The
Ruhr/Lower Rhine conurbation, or Ruhrgebiet/Niederrhein, is one of
the most densely populated areas of western Europe and as a result
boasts as many as nine more-or-less fulltime opera companies. This guide, a conflation of the Southern Ruhr and Northern Ruhr pages listed at the top of this blog, provides a personal introduction to each of them, listed in alphabetic order.
DORTMUND
Best
known for beer and football, unprepossessing Dortmund can hold its
own in the operatic field, too. Theater Dortmund is the kind of place
where a Strauss opera, Viennese operetta and West End musical can be
in repertoire over the same weekend, yet it also recently mounted the
German premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Anna
Nicole,
and has had a strong line in Mozart stagings in the last few seasons.
As the Intendant’s motto puts on the company’s website, ‘We
make the popular challenging and the challenging popular.’
(Its
parallel activities in dance, plays and youth theatre combine to make
it one of Germany’s busiest theatre operations.) The company
operates a semi-stagione system, with productions in rep over several
months.
Theatre:
the curved roof of this 1960s building, built on the site of the
city’s bombed pre-war opera house, is a striking sight, and makes
for a light, airy foyer (the ‘working’ part of the theatre is
built into the neighbouring office block that comprises the company’s
offices and workshops, and is separate from the Schauspielhaus for
spoken theatre next door). The box office is just inside the main
entrance, between the two entrance doors, and the foyer includes
free, full-height lockers in lieu of cloakrooms. The auditorium is
partly shaped by the curvature of the roof and seats 1,170 between
Parkett and two Logenrängen (‘vineyard-style’ boxed tiers).
Theater Dortmund is a 15-minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof – take
the subway under the major ring road to the pedestrian zone and
follow the red tourist signs via Hansaplatz.
2015/16
repertoire:
Tristan und Isolde, Kiss Me, Kate, Hansel und Gretel, La traviata,
Rinaldo, Peter Grimes, plus revivals of Le nozze di Figaro, Der
Rosenkavalier
Reviews
of performances in Dortmund: Roxy
und ihr Wunderteam (Abraham), Don
Giovanni
Tickets:
€10–49, bookable online, printable or for collection.
Practicalities:
Dortmund is a major fulcrum on the Intercity and ICE networks, as
well as a major focus of the local train service, so is a useful
base. It also has an international airport (served by EasyJet, among
others). As such, hotels are plentiful, though they can fill up when
Borussia Dortmund is playing at home.
Daytime:
despite being flattened in the war, the city has plenty of history,
though its cultural interest today lies more in the 20th-21st-century
sphere: a leading contemporary art collection in the ‘U’ complex
(the city’s former main brewery) and a sobering but fascinating
museum covering the city’s history from 1933 to 1945 in the former
Gestapo prison just north of the Hauptbahnhof (free admission). On a
lighter note, the city is famous for hosting one of the country’s
biggest Christmas markets, based around the world’s largest
Christmas tree on Hansaplatz. Dortmund’s train connections make
much of the rest of the area accessible for trips out.
Nearby
(average journey times by train /
per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour frequency
post-performance): Essen (23/3/3), Hagen (30/5/2).
DUISBURG
Theater Duisburg is the junior
partner in the dual-theatre operation of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein
based in Düsseldorf. Indeed, it is junior to the extent that it is
in severe danger of being cut back to minimal operatic activities.
But for the moment at least it shares productions and staff with the
main house in Düsseldorf, though it has its own orchestra, which
means performances run in both theatres concurrently, if somewhat
more sparingly in Duisburg. It currently puts on about 100 opera and
ballet performances a season, running in semi-stagione pattern.
Theatre:
a building from 1912, rebuilt in 1950 after bombing, and seating
1,218 in Parkett and two Ränge (see right). The Abendkasse is easily found just
inside the entrance. The theatre is under a ten-minute walk from
Duisburg Hbf.
2015/16
repertoire:
L’elisir d’amore, Turandot, Ariadne auf Naxos, What Next?
(Carter)/Trouble in Tahiti (Bernstein), plus revivals of Die
Zauberflöte, Aida, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Hänsel und
Gretel, Der fliegender Holländer, Werther, Il trittico, Rigoletto,
Der Rosenkavalier
Reviews
of performances in Duisburg:
Die
Zauberflote
Tickets:
€15–70, bookable online and printable.
Practicalities:
Duisburg is well-connected, being halfway between Düsseldorf and
Essen on the intercity network and with plenty of local services well
into the evening. As such, it would make a good base, if a rather
uninspiring one.
Daytime:
Duisburg’s claim to fame is in being Germany’s largest inland
port, at the point where the Ruhr runs into the Rhine. There’s a
small area of surviving/rebuilt Altstadt near the rivers and
revitalised dockland areas for eating/entertainment.
Nearby
(average journey times by train /
per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour frequency
post-performance): Düsseldorf (20/7/4), Essen (15/7/5), Krefeld
(20/3/2).
DÜSSELDORF
As the capital of
North-Rhein-Westphalia and with the seventh largest population among
German cities, Düsseldorf is the main cultural hub for the whole
Rhein-Ruhr region. The city is well enough known and written about
not to need further introduction, though other musical draws include
its Tonhalle concert hall by the Rhein and a history that included
Robert Schumann as its ill-fated director of music in the 1850s. Its
opera company, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, by its very name claiming
national status, spills beyond the city to encompass a second base in
neighbouring Duisburg (see above). Düsseldorf, though, offers the
fuller programme, making it, with the addition of ballet, as busy as
the opera companies in Cologne and Essen. It is reasonably well
regarded for the scope of its repertoire, and a new Ring cycle
has been announced for the 2016–17 season.
Theatre:
Düsseldorf Opernhaus is situated on the edge of the Altstadt, the
city’s nightlife centre, conveniently next to the well-connected
Heinrich-Heine-Allee U-Bahn (underground) station, which is a short
three stops from the Hauptbahnhof (or about a half-hour walk). The
building, on the site of the bombed-out 19th-century Stadttheater, is
a functional and sleak 1950s construction, which can seat just short
of 1,300 patrons in a large Parkett and three shallow tiers. Row 14
and back in the Parkett, plus the very sides, are in the overhang,
and sides of the upper two tiers offer a somewhat restricted view of
the stage.
2015/16
repertoire: Arabella, Die
Zirkusprinzessin, Don Carlos, The Golden Cockerel, Die lustige Weiber
von Windsor, plus revivals of Die Zauberflöte, Aida, The Fiery
Angel, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Hänsel
und Gretel, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Tosca, Lohengrin, Lucia di
Lammermoor, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Rigoletto, Der Zwerg, Der
Rosenkavalier.
Reviews
of performances in Düsseldorf:
The
Fiery Angel (Prokofiev)
Tickets: €15–82,
bookable online and printable.
Practicalities: As
Düsseldorf is a leading centre for shopping and commerce, there’s
no shortage of hotel accommodation, though prices tend to be higher
than the rest of the region, especially during trade fairs. There are
plenty of options near the Hauptbahnhof, though the area to the south
is somewhat insalubrious – the more upmarket places are in the
Altstadt or near the Königsallee luxury shopping street. A handful
of places include a free Ruhr-wide travelcard for the duration of
your stay – always something worth looking out for (equivalent to
c.€27 per day, including the full extent of the day you leave).
Düsseldorf makes a convenient base for visiting all the other opera
houses in the region – Duisburg and Krefeld are even linked by
tram. The international airport is an easy ride away via S-Bahn.
Nearby (average journey
times by train / per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour
frequency post-performance): Dortmund (60/3/3), Duisburg (16/7/4;
plus tram/U-bahn), Essen (40/6/5), Gelsenkirchen (40/2/2), Hagen
(45/2/1), Köln (33/4/2), Krefeld (30/3/2; plus tram/U-bahn),
Mönchengladbach/Rheydt (33/2/1; plus further deps changing MG Hbf),
Wuppertal (20/3/2 + Schwebebahn connection).
ESSEN
Essen runs on a semi-stagione
system, with long runs of new productions interspersed with short
ones – maybe just three performances – of revivals. It’s often
possible to catch two operas in a single visit.
Theatre:
Essen
has what must be the only opera house since Dresden’s Semperoper to
be named after its architect, but the city was so proud of the result
that it named the building, completed in 1988, as the Aalto Theater,
after its creator, the Finnish master Alvar Aalto, who had died
during its long journey to fruition. It is indeed an iconic piece of
modern architecture, admired as much for its sleek beauty as for its
practicality – gleamingly white outside and in the foyers and
refreshingly blue in the auditorium itself, which is highly unusual
in being semi-circular but asymmetrical, as if an uneven bite has
been taken out of a Greek theatre. It seats 1,125 in Parkett and two
slender balconies, giving excellent sight-lines from all areas; the
box office is in a little ‘pod’ within the outer foyer. The
theatre is less than ten minutes’ walk due south of the
Hauptbahnhof and even has its own eponymous tram stop outside. It’s
also worth noting that the Essen Philharmonie concert hall – the
main symphonic venue in this part of Germany – is virtually next
door and hosts all the great visiting orchestras.
2015/16
repertoire:
The Greek Passion (Martinů), The Love of Three Oranges, Faust,
Elektra, Il barbiere di Siviglia, plus revivals of Fidelio, Madama
Butterfly, Macbeth, La bohème, Un ballo in maschera, Die
Zauberflöte, Der fliegender Holländer, Into the Little Hill
(Benjamin), Aida, Tosca, La traviata, Rusalka, Don Giovanni
Reviews
of performances in Essen:
Die
schweigsame Frau, Le
grand macabre
Tickets:
€25–47.
Practicalities:
Essen’s central location in the Ruhr (it is indeed regarded as its
capital) makes it the ideal base – apart from Mönchengladbach, all
the region’s venues can be reached comfortably from here. A couple
of hotels (InterCity and City Hotel) offer Ruhr-wide public transport
tickets in the room price, which is always good value, but there’s
a reasonable spread of places to stay at all prices, many of them
close to the station and thus the opera house. Note that, as with a
number of cities in the region, room rates rise markedly when there’s
a trade fair/Messe on. Restaurant choices are fairly limited, both
near the opera house and in the central shopping area.
Daytime:
Essen markets itself as shopping capital of the Ruhr, but the city
also offers some of the region’s cultural highlights. Principal
among them must be the Folkswang art gallery, a short walk across the
park from the Aalto Theater, and home to one of the best collections
of 19th- to 21st-century art anywhere, with representative works from
all the great artists from the German Romantics onwards. The other
draw is the Zollverein Coking Plant in the city’s northern
outskirts, a vast former industrial complex built between the wars in
modernist Bauhaus style and now housing a fascinating museum on the
Ruhr as a whole and on the mining history in particular. Essen city
centre is a pleasant enough place for a wander, with several historic
buildings surviving, including its Romanesque church.
A highly recommended excursion is
to the neighbouring town of Kettwig, a rare surviving example of a
historic townscape in the region, full of old half-timbered buildings
clad in the distinctive local green slate and with atmospheric lanes
tumbling down to the River Ruhr – there’s also a pleasant
riverside path. The S-Bahn line between Essen and Düsseldorf, along
which Kettwig sits, is a surprisingly rural and scenic ride. The town
centre is a 15-minute walk from either Kettwig or Kettwig-Stausee
stations.
Nearby
(average
journey times by train / per-hour frequency pre-performance /
per-hour frequency post-performance): Dortmund (23/3/3), Duisburg
(15/6/5), Düsseldorf (35/5/4), Gelsenkirchen (8/4/4), Hagen
(37/2/1), Krefeld (40/2/2), Wuppertal (46/3/1).
GELSENKIRCHEN
(forthcoming)
2015/16
repertoire:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tosca, Norma, La gioconda, Die
Fledermaus
Tickets:
€11–41
Nearby
(average journey times by train /
per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour frequency
post-performance): Dortmund (40/4/4), Essen (8/4/4).
HAGEN
On the face of it, Hagen is one
of the more unprepossessing of the Ruhr’s towns: a bit down on its
luck, saddled with municipal debt and with few cultural sites, though
it is scenically situated among hills and adjacent to some of the
River Ruhr’s leisure hotspots on its reservoirs. However, its
theatre is one of the region’s more enterprising, tackling
interesting repertoire (neglected American operas have been a recent
theme) with energy and skill - but catch it soon, since recent budget
cuts are currently threatening the company's very existence.
Theatre:
Theater Hagen is a Jugendstil building from 1911, reduced to a shell
by American bombardment in 1945 and rebuilt four years later.
Unfortunately, the rather tired state of the seating suggests not
much more has been done to the auditorium since, though it’s
otherwise a comfortably intimate, rectangular space with 774 seats
distributed between Parkett/Orchester and two upper tiers. A neat
widget on the website shows what the view is like from different
parts of the theatre. The venue
is on one of the main shopping streets, approximately ten minutes’
walk from Hagen Hbf. Note that the box office (including Abendkasse)
is in an annexe to the right-hand side of the main frontage and
difficult to find from inside the foyer. Hagen uses the semi-stagione
system with extended, overlapping runs that also feature musicals.
2015/16
repertoire:
Die Zauberflöte, Fidelio, Madama Butterfly, Das Land des Lächelns,
Jonny spielt auf (Krenek), Eugene Onegin, Der Rosenkavalier
Reviews
of performances in Hagen:
Vanessa
(Barber)
Tickets:
€15–38, bookable online.
Practicalities:
It’s possible to stay in Hagen, but other than on a flying visit it
may prove preferable to stay in neighbouring Dortmund, Essen or
Wuppertal for their greater general cultural attractions and
connectibility.
Nearby
(average journey times by train /
per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour frequency
post-performance): Wuppertal (25/3/1), Essen (39/2/1), Dortmund
(30/1/2).
KREFELD
Theater Krefeld is the northern
arm of the two-city Theater Krefeld-Mönchengladbach operation (see below for Mönchengladbach) and uses the ‘semi-stagione’
scheduling system. The two theatres share an orchestra, the Lower
Rhine (Niederrhein) Symphony, meaning that although seasons run
concurrently, individual performances broadly alternate in short
batches between the two venues and it is possible to see a couple of
different operas in the same theatre on consecutive nights. Although
Mönchengladbach and Krefeld are only 25km or a 20-minute train
journey apart, the theatres enjoy distinct audiences, as suggested by
the fact that a new production given in one venue one season will
usually be presented afresh in the other the following year.
Repertoire is an eclectic mixture of popular classics with some rarer
material – the company was the only one outside the Wagnerian
heartland of Leipzig/Berlin to present Rienzi in the
composer’s bicentenary year, for example.
2015/16
repertoire:
Peter Grimes, My Fair Lady, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Schone und
das Biest (Spohr), Les contes d'Hoffmann
Tickets:
€12-38, bookable online and printable.
Practicalities:
there’s a convenient Ibis Budget hotel near the station and places
to eat in the shopping streets between the Hbf and the theatre, but
it’s not the most inspiring place to base oneself for more than a
single night.
Daytime:
there’s not much else to keep you in this city, but it provides
convenient rail links to the historic towns of Kleve and Xanten to
the northwest, as well as to Düsseldorf and Cologne.
Nearby
(average journey times by train /
per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour frequency
post-performance): Duisburg (20/3/2), Düsseldorf (35/5/3), Essen
(40/2/2), Mönchengladbach/Rheydt (22/3/2).
MÖNCHENGLADBACH
Theater
Mönchengladbach is one half of the Theater Krefeld–Mönchengladbach
operation (see above for Krefeld) and uses the
‘semi-stagione’ scheduling system. The two theatres share an
orchestra, the Lower Rhine (Niederrhein) Symphony, meaning that
although seasons run concurrently, individual performances broadly
alternate in short batches between the two venues and it is possible
to see a couple of different operas in the same theatre on
consecutive nights. Although Mönchengladbach and Krefeld are only
25km or a 20-minute train journey apart, the theatres enjoy distinct
audiences, as suggested by the fact that a new production given in
one venue one season will usually be presented afresh in the other
the following year. Repertoire, though limited in number of
productions each season, is an eclectic mixture of popular classics
with some rarer material – the company was the only one outside the
Wagnerian heartland of Leipzig/Berlin to present Rienzi
in
the composer’s bicentenary year, for example.
Theatre:
just
to confuse matters, Theater Mönchengladbach is not in
Mönchengladbach itself, but in the neighbouring town/suburb of
Rheydt, six minutes south by train – the generously lobbied postwar
building (90% of Rheydt was bombed in the war) sits in a little park
just a few minutes’ walk from Rheydt Hbf. Its plain, square
auditorium seats c.778 divided between Parkett and Balkon.
2015/16
repertoire:
Un ballo in maschera, Der Rosenkavalier, Katya Kabanova
Reviews
of performances in Mönchengladbach:
Les
contes d'Hoffmann
Tickets:
€12-38, bookable online and printable.
Practicalities:
if not using the area as a base, there’s little reason not to stay
in Rheydt itself: Parkhotel Hayma (www.parkhotel-rheydt.de/)
is
reasonably priced and just across the road from the park and theatre.
Restaurants and shopping streets are within walking distance. With
one of Germany’s major football teams in the vicinity, hotels can
get heavily booked out on home match nights. Otherwise, central
Mönchengladbach can be reached by twice-hourly trains and additional
local buses after performances.
Daytime:
there’s little to see in Rheydt, so head to Mönchengladbach itself
– this was only 60% destroyed by the RAF and a few older buildings
survive, notably the Münster, or abbey church, on the top of the
hill that forms the historic heart of the city (church closed
Mondays) and a few fragments of the former city walls. There’s also
one of the country’s leading contemporary art museums, the
Abteiberg (www.museum-abteiberg.de/,
also closed Mondays), all about 15 minutes’ walk uphill from
Mönchengladbach Hbf. Aachen is an hour away and Düsseldorf 20
minutes.
Nearby:
Krefeld, Düsseldorf, Aachen, though late-evening train connections
are thin on the ground.
WUPPERTAL
Wuppertaler
Bühnen has unfortunately recently lost its whole operatic ensemble
(and closed its separate Schauspielhaus) in a drastic cost-cutting
exercise, and a reduced roster of operas - only half a dozen in
2015/16 compared with eight or more in previous seasons - will now be
cast with guest singers. Yet artistically, the company has been on a
roll and always seems to throw up something worth travelling for each
season, culminating in a Parsifal of international stature in
March 2015. Performances are given at the Opernhaus in the Barmen
district of the city, also the home of the world-renowned Pina Bausch
Tanztheater Wuppertal contemporary dance company. The company
operates almost to a ‘stagione’ system, with often only a small
overlap between productions and meaning it’s usually only possible
to see a single work in one short visit.
Theatre:
an intimate, modern, semi-circular auditorium in a reconstructed
Jugendstil shell from 1905, seating c.360 in the stalls, c.150 in the
first tier and c.120 in the second tier. Good sight-lines from most
seats, though rows 1-3 and 5 of the stalls are not raked.
2015/16
repertoire: Eugene
Onegin, Lulu, Madama Butterfly, West Side Story, plus revivals of St
John Passion, Tosca
Reviews
of performances in Wuppertal:
Krol Roger (Szymanowski), Parsifal
Tickets:
€8-41, bookable online and printable.
Practicalities:
Wuppertal, the one-time textiles hub of Germany, is a ribbon city
strung out for some 13km along the leafy valley of the Wupper river,
and a conglomeration of formerly separate towns. The opera house is
adjacent to Barmen DB station and close to Adler Brücke station on
the Schwebebahn, the ‘swinging railway’ that is suspended over
the river and is the city’s main transport link. Most of the hotels
and other infrastructure, though, are in Elberfeld, close to
Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof and some ten minutes to the west by
Schwebebahn (an easy connection). There’s a vast redevelopment of
the Hauptbahnhof frontage underway until 2017, which is making
getting between station and town a bit of a hassle, but it’s still
manageable. Wuppertal is second only to Essen in convenience as a
base to stay while visiting different theatres in the region.
Especially if you are using Wuppertal as a base, it’s worth
considering staying in one of the handful of hotels that provides a
‘free’ (ie included) Ruhr-wide travel pass (worth €27 a day and
valid on all non-Intercity transport, including the Schwebebahn) for
the duration of your stay, including the InterCity and Central
hotels. Apart from the theatre café there’s nowhere to eat
immediately close to the Opera House, and in Elberfeld, the
Luisenviertel offers more restaurants than the central shopping area.
Daytime:
Riding the Schwebebahn is an attraction in itself. Elberfeld is home
to a leading art collection, the Von der Heydt Museum, and there are
several concentrations of grand villas built by textile magnates in
the late 19th century worth wandering past, particularly in the
Briller and Zoo areas – pick up a walking guide from the Tourist
Office at Schloßbeiche 40. Near the Opera House in Barmen is the
birthplace of Friedrich Engels (now a museum) and behind it a further
museum of early industry. For a more rural experience, take the S7
train to Solingen-Schaberg and explore the picturesque, wooded lower
Wupper valley on foot, with a chance to marvel at the engineering
wonder of the Müngsten Bridge, the highest steel railway bridge in
Germany, and visit Schloß Burg, the one-time seat of the Dukes of
Berg, now a regional museum covering the history of the Bergischer
Land. Otherwise, Cologne is only 45 minutes away from Wuppertal by
train and much of the rest of the region is equally accessible.
Nearby
(average journey times by train /
per-hour frequency pre-performance / per-hour frequency
post-performance): Düsseldorf (25/4/2), Hagen (25/3/1), Essen
(46/3/1), Dortmund (49/1/1), Cologne (45/3/2).
Disclaimer:
this guide has been compiled in good faith using facts available at
time of writing, but please double-check practical matters –
repertoire, prices, train frequency etc – with the appropriate
websites and organisations before making any travel or ticketing
arrangements.
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