I first went to the Wiener Staatsoper-Vienna State Opera- when I was rehearsing and performing Florestan at the nearby Klosterneuburg Summer Festival. One of the best features of this great opera house was that Standing Room tickets were €2! This was 2007 and now they cost €10—AN OUTRAGE!! — but pretty cheap all the same. …
There are 5 major breaks each year when schools are closed and many people take part or all of the six weeks of yearly vacation. They are listed as Schulferien and are very much like our vacations. They are: Herbstferien (Fall vacation), Weihnachtsferien (Christmas vacation), Winterferien (Winter vacation), Osterferien (Easter vacation), and the biggie, Sommerferien …
Heather Phillips in rehearsal for Bianca e Falliero at Oper Frankfurt: Photo Credit Karoly Risz Hello OperGermany readers, My name is Heather Phillips. I am an American opera singer, about to make my European Operatic debut in a new production at Oper Frankfurt in the soprano title role of Rossini’s Bianca e Falliero. My path to …
A conductor colleague who just came to the US from Germany thinks that attitudes there may have turned a corner recently, and that operatic life there is carefully reviving. Performances are happening-with limited auditence capacity and varying requirements: an official Covid Pass-usually a QR code and perhaps masks or testing. Theaters like Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt …
I just returned from a Silvester (New Year’s Eve) concert-actually two concerts, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, as so often is the case for these Galas. It was a close call, and we weren’t 100% sure it would happen until the day before the first orchestra rehearsal. Even then we had …
They tell me they’re holding auditions but have such a backlog that they can’t schedule new singers until early next year, especially singers coming from outside Germany. I think the best time to write them for an audition slot is early or mid-November, in line with their pre-pandemic lead time of three months. It looks …
Theaters, performers and private agents are off of life support and hopeful that progress will continue. Performances are happening and being planned, although the particulars vary depending on the Bundesland or country. Austria, for instance, had full houses for the festivals at Salzburg, Bregenz and Erl and public health measures seem to be working under …
“Apparently the Wuppertal theater is under water”—a Telegram message from a friend.. First, it must be said that theaters are far from the worst news from the recent floods. Peoplehave died and towns have been destroyed. Our hearts go out to them. Recovery and rebuildingwill be a huge job. It’s my old theater and it’s …
Germany has removed the US from it’s “Hot Spots” list. You will still need your CDC vaccination card-cellphone photos are not valid-or recent negative tests, but quarantines are no longer required. The same is true for Canada and several other countries and regions. The official site for this info is the Robert Koch Institute for …
Passengers traveling to Germany aged 6 years or older must present one of the following: 1) a negative PCR or POC-PCR test result taken no more than 72 hours priorto arrival 2) a negative antigen test result taken no more than 48 hours prior to arrival, 3) a vaccination certificate or 4) proof of recovery …