Overview
- The company announced Thursday it will reopen in September with a city festival on September 19–20, a gala on September 24, and a premiere of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier on September 27.
- The opening weekend features backstage tours, technical demos, and a closing concert with the opera ensemble, the Gürzenich Orchestra, and the Cologne rock band Kasalla, with tickets allocated by raffle.
- A formal gala on September 24 will include star soprano Diana Damrau, and a portion of seats will be distributed through a lottery.
- A new access program called Hier sitzt Köln will raffle two free tickets for every performance to bring in people who do not usually attend opera, theater, or dance.
- The opera and neighboring playhouse have been under renovation since 2012 after an original 2015 target, with reported costs rising to about €798 million and productions staged in temporary venues during the closure.