Oper Frankfurt

Oper Frankfurt is one of the most important and renowned theatres in the world. Bernd Loebe, Intendant since 2002, incorporates rarely performed works, world premieres, exciting directors and up-and-coming talent when planning his seasons, which have been acknowledged by being voted „Opera House of the Year“ eight times by critics from the specialist magazine Opernwelt. Thomas Guggeis has been the General Music Director since 2023. 11 new productions and 15 revivals are performed in the Opera House (1370 seats) and Bockenheimer Depot (350 seats) per season.

Many artists, including Paula Murrihy, Iurii Samoilov and Franciso Brito started their careers as members of Oper Frankfurt’s Opera Studio. Since this institution was founded in 2008 it has given eight young singers a year the chance to start their careers off. It offers professional support to young singers to help them launch their careers after graduating, developing their artistic and practical skills. They gain stage experience in suitable opera productions, expand their repertoire by studying roles and receiving vocal coaching, take part in scenic exercises and, if needed, receive German lessons and language coaching for their singing parts. This way, highly qualified young talent can be bound to the house artistically in the long term. A total of 21 former artists of the opera studio have already joined the ensemble of Oper Frankfurt.

Members of the Frankfurt Opern- und Museumsorchester were serious about wanting to give young musicians the chance to develop further and gain insight into what working in an opera and concert orchestra means, and filling the gap between studying and embarking on a career. So the Paul-Hindemith-Orchester Akademie came into being in 2015/16. The number of scholarship holders has now grown to twelve, and the aim is to provide young, well-trained instrumentalists with the best possible preparation for the professional life of an orchestra musician, to learn from experienced orchestra members and, if possible, to establish long-term relationships with the orchestra.

Oper Frankfurt have been part of the OperaVision – Next Generation (OVNG) pilot project with the Opera Studio and the Paul Hindemith Orchestra Academy. In a six-part video series, they have provided insights into the young artists' teaching activities and daily life, as well as professionally recorded concert footage.

All episodes of the series can be found at this link.