From May 16 to 26 it is time again for the O. Festival (formerly the Opera Days) in Rotterdam. The place if you love opera, music and theater.
During O., makers and audiences from home and abroad are brought together. Every spring a festival awaits you, with performances on established stages and top locations. A new form of opera that moves you!
Visitors can again visit the most diverse performances for ten full festival days, with the narrative power of the singing voice as a guideline. The festival starts with the world premiere of the GAIA-24 by Opera Aperta from Ukraine, followed by the First Night: a programme with sneak peeks of productions that will be shown during the festival.
The O. Festival programme is well filled again. With more than 60 performances at 30 locations throughout Rotterdam, there is plenty of choice. Below we share a few highlights of the O. Festival.
A 2-kilometre walking concert on the Hofbogen, in collaboration with Rotterdamse Dakendagen. Artist duo Strijbos & Van Rijswijk composes new music and song for this purpose with stories of the residents around the Hofbogen, recorded by Merel Smitt and translated into text by Corinne Heyrman.
In the Koopgoot one cannot ignore the take-over of the Hooligan Art Community, with an installation in an empty shop building and pop-up performances.
The theatrical radio show FOR REAL by Andrea Voets / Resonate Productions about what it means to matter. The public is a guest but can also participate in the radio studio in the Arminius Church.
Steef de Jong will be present at the festival again this year with Steefs O.2 Show. Steef, together with Richard Groenendijk, Loes Luca, Anne-Marie Jung, Laetitia Gerards, Arturo den Hartog, the DoelenEnsemble and the Luxor Musical Choir, takes the audience on a brand new journey through Operettaland in the old Luxor Theater.
This year there is an intensive collaboration with Theater Walhalla for 'On the Cape'. Six productions can be visited here, including the premieres of In het Oog van de Orkaan (De Amazones), Kaatje Kooij's Stand-up Show: De Musical (Kaatje Kooij) and Animal Farm (Flip Noorman). On Saturday, May 25, new musical theater makers will unveil their work and a diverse group of makers will gather for a day full of creativity.
Plenty to discover in the extensive programme of the O. Festival!
There are different types of tickets to choose from. For example, choose a day ticket, which allows you to attend festivals from early to late and visit various performances and concerts. Would you rather visit a single performance? This is possible with a separate ticket.
For real fans, there are passe-partout tickets, which allow you to attend all performances for ten days.