Qualla: Leipzig Opera

Leipzig Opera: Introduction

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bärbel Miemietz, CC BY-SA 4.0. Three buildings have housed the Oper Leipzig over its 332-year history. The first was the Oper am Bruhl, opened in 1693 with Telemann eventually directing it - making Leipzig the third city in Europe, after Venice and Hamburg, with a permanent opera house. The second was the Neues Theater, inaugurated in January 1868, where the young Gustav Mahler conducted under Arthur Nikisch from 1886 to 1888 and where he completed his First Symphony. Both buildings are gone. The Neues Theater burned to the ground during the RAF firebombing on the night of 3 December 1943, along with every other theater in Leipzig. The third building - the one that stands today on the Augustusplatz - was opened on 8 October 1960 with Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, and it is the rare opera house that says, in its very stones, both 'we are the heirs of Mahler' and 'we were rebuilt by the GDR.' The architecture is unapologetic socialist classicism. The repertoire is unapologetically world-class.

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Image: Bärbel Miemietz | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leipzig Opera: Telemann's Beginning

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ALoK, CC BY 3.0. Singspiel performances are documented in Leipzig from 1693, and within a decade the city had a dedicated opera house. Georg Philipp Telemann directed the Oper am Bruhl from 1703 to 1705, composing many of the works he conducted - he would do the same later in Hamburg. The Leipzig...

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Image: ALoK | CC BY 3.0

Leipzig Opera: Mahler in the Pit

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0. The Neues Theater of 1868 was where Leipzig opera came of age internationally. Gustav Mahler arrived in 1886 as second conductor, working under Arthur Nikisch, and stayed for two years that proved decisive for his career. He completed Carl Maria von Weber's unfinished opera Die D...

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Image: Photo: Andreas Praefcke | CC BY 3.0

Leipzig Opera: Firebombed

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:Zarafa, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the night of 3 December 1943, RAF Bomber Command launched a major raid on Leipzig with high-explosive ordnance. The Neues Theater took direct hits and burned through the night. By morning every theater in the city was either destroyed or unusable. Leipzig had been a city of mu...

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Image: User:Zarafa | CC BY-SA 3.0

Leipzig Opera: The Modern House

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Appaloosa, CC BY-SA 3.0. Music directors since reunification have included Lothar Zagrosek, Riccardo Chailly (2005-2008), and Ulf Schirmer (2009-2022, also serving as Intendant from 2011). Tobias Wolff became Intendant in 2022. The Gewandhaus Orchestra still plays the pit - a continuous relationship now ...

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Image: Appaloosa | CC BY-SA 3.0