The Munich Opera Festival (german: Münchner Opernfestspiele) takes place yearly in the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n capital from late June to late July. Preceding on the calendar the two nearby festivals of

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, which both start in late July, the festival summarizes the concluding main season's work of the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

, which administers it, and offers premieres of new stage productions by the company, Germany's largest. Venues used include the Nationaltheater, the

Prinzregententheater The Prinzregententheater, or, as it was called in its first decades, the Prinz-Regenten-Theater, in English the Prince Regent Theatre, is a concert hall and opera house on Prinzregentenplatz in the Bavarian capital of Munich, Germany. Building ...

, the Cuvilliés-Theater and the

Allerheiligen-Hofkirche The Allerheiligen-Hofkirche (Court Church of All Saints) is a church in the Munich Residenz (the royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs) designed by Leo von Klenze and built between 1826 and 1837. The church was badly damaged from bombing during W ...

. Besides opera, concerts of chamber music are given to showcase the work of members of the

Bavarian State Orchestra The Bavarian State Orchestra (german: Bayerisches Staatsorchester, italic=no) is the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany. It has given its own series of concerts, the , since 1811. Profile On 9 December 2011, this ensemble c ...

, which serves in the pit for all opera performances. The festival is formally opened each year with a choral concert performed as part of a full Roman Catholic church service at Michaelskirche; this is led by the

Archbishop of Munich and Freising The following people were bishops, prince-bishops or archbishops of Freising or Munich and Freising in Bavaria: Bishops of Freising * St. Corbinian (724–730); founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not orga ...

, with the opera company's music director overseeing the work of the musicians in the organ loft. A festival highlight is ''Opera for All'', the live transmission of a full-length production from the theater to an outdoor audience seated in

Max-Joseph-Platz Max-Joseph-Platz is a large square in central Munich which was named after King Maximilian Joseph. Max-Joseph-Platz serves as the western starting point of the royal avenue Maximilianstraße. Architecture The square was constructed with the erect ...

References

External links

Munich Opera Festival website in English
Opera festivals Summer festivals Festivals in Munich Classical music festivals in Germany Annual events in Munich Summer events in Germany {{Opera-company-stub

See also

References

External links