Oper Leipzig

Few cities can match Leipzig's operatic pedigree. A civic opera house opened on the Brühl in 1693, only the third in Europe after Venice and Hamburg, and the young Telemann ran it from 1703 to 1705. The grand Neues Theater followed in 1868; Gustav Mahler worked there as second conductor under Arthur Nikisch in the 1880s. On the night of 3 December 1943 it was destroyed in an air raid, along with every other theatre in the city.

Its successor on Augustusplatz, begun in 1956 and inaugurated on 8 October 1960 with Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a bow to Wagner, Leipzig's most famous musical son, remains a rare showcase of 1950s East German architecture. The Gewandhausorchester plays in the pit, and beside the main stage the company runs the Musikalische Komödie, a second house devoted to operetta and musicals. Mozart keeps a firm footing here too, Die Zauberflöte included.

On stage here

Performance dates

Video

»Die Zauberflöte« (Trailer) | Oper Leipzig

Data: open sources (opera houses, ticketing platforms, Wikidata). Part of the worldwide Die Zauberflöte map.