The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (German Opera on the Rhine) is an opera company based in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

and

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

. The opera also has an associated

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

Axel Kober Axel Kober (born 10 February 1970) is a German conductor. Since 2009 he has been the music director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Kober was born in Kronach and studied conducting under Peter Falk and Günther Wich at the Hochschule für Musik W ...

has been its Music Director since 2009. The resident orchestra, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, play both opera and symphonic repertoire. After the 1875 construction of what became the Düsseldorf ''Opernhaus'', a strong connection between the two cities’ opera houses existed from 1887 to 1920, and was not re-established until 1955 with the creation of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The company performs in the

Opernhaus Düsseldorf Opernhaus Düsseldorf ( en, Düsseldorf Opera House) is a venue and administrative headquarters of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The original opera house was constructed between 1873 and 1875 as the Stadttheater Düsseldorf, designed by Ernst Gie ...

, built in 1875. It was partially destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and reconstructed to officially re-open in 1956.

Theater Duisburg The Theater Duisburg is located in Duisburg, Germany and is one of two opera houses where performances are given by the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The other is the Opernhaus Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf. The original theatre was built in 1912, destro ...

, built in 1912, was destroyed, and rebuilt in 1950. For the 25th anniversary of the house,

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic. Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...

was commissioned to compose an opera. He wrote '' Behold the Sun'' with a libretto by John McGrath about the anabaptists in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. The current general manager is Christoph Meyer; the chief conductor is

. In 2006 and 2007, a major reorganization and renovation of the Opera House in Düsseldorf took place. The first opera performance in the newly renovated theater was ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'', conducted by the American John Fiore. During the year 2000 up to 2005 the German photographer

Karl Maria Udo Remmes Karl Maria Udo Remmes (born 2 July 1954 in Tübingen, West Germany – 25 November 2014 in Köln) was a German photographer and physician. He has become known especially for his work in backstage photography specializing in opera, ballet and music ...

was invited to portray the backstage operations at the Deutsche Oper in Düsseldorf. Two singers of the opera, member

Oleg Bryjak Oleg Bryjak ( uk, Олег Брижак, 27 October 1960 – 24 March 2015) was a Kazakhstani-German bass-baritone opera singer. Born in Jezkazgan, Kazakh SSR, into an ethnic Ukrainian family, he moved to Germany in 1991 to join the Badisches Staa ...

and guest artist

Maria Radner Maria Friderike Radner (; 7 May 1981 – 24 March 2015) was a German contralto who performed internationally in opera and in concerts. She studied at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany. Both ''Stern'' magazine and Munich's ''A ...

, were killed in the Germanwings Flight 9525 disaster.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Music in Düsseldorf Culture in Duisburg German opera companies Opera houses in Germany Theatres in Düsseldorf 1955 establishments in Germany Musical groups established in 1955