From Thursday 16 May to Sunday 26 May, O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre. brings more than 60 productions to special locations in Rotterdam: from the heart of the city centre to the Kaap and across the Hofbogen. Visitors can once again visit ten full festival days of the most diverse performances with the narrative power of the singing voice as the guiding principle. The festival starts with the world premiere of Opera Aperta’s GAIA-24 from Ukraine, followed by First Night: a programme of sneak peeks of productions to be seen during the festival.
“O. is in the starting blocks and we are extremely proud of our programme. In addition to the world premiere of our opening performance, we will present artists from USA, Switzerland, Türkiye, Poland, among others, and have premieres by Dutch makers, including Club Gewalt and Steef de Jong. Of course, we also dive back into the city where O. lets residents and visitors discover Rotterdam in a new way.” – artistic director Guy Coolen
2024 programme
Some highlights from the 2024 programme include:
- Over de Bogen, a 2-kilometre-long walking concert on the Hofbogen, in collaboration with Rotterdam Rooftop Days. Artist duo Strijbos & Van Rijswijk will compose new music and songs with stories of the residents around the Hofbogen, written by Merel Smitt and translated into text by Corinne Heyrman;
- In the Koopgoot, the takeover of the Hooligan Art Community cannot be ignored, with an installation in an empty store and pop-up performances;
- The international co-production Notwehr, by Sjaron Minailo for the Venice Biennale Commission, in which two women in a prison cell embark on a blistering inner journey;
- In the intriguing interplay of film and live vocals of Black Lodge by David T. Little and Timur Bekbosunov, a tormented writer confronts demons of his own making in search of escape;
- The theatrical radio show FOR REAL by Andrea Voets / Resonate Productions about what it means to matter. The audience is a guest but can also participate in the radio studio in the Arminius Church;
- Steef de Jong will be at the festival again this year with Steefs O.2 Show. Together with Richard Groenendijk, Loes Luca, Anne-Marie Jung, Laetitia Gerards, Arturo den Hartog, the DoelenEnsemble and the Luxor Musicalkoor, Steef takes the audience on a brand-new journey through Operetteland in the old Luxor Theatre;
- There is an intensive collaboration at the Kaap with Theatre Walhalla. Six productions can be visited here, including the premieres of In het Oog van de Oorkaan (De Amazones), Kaatje Kooij’s Stand-up Show: De Musical (Kaatje Kooij) and Animal Farm (Flip Noorman). On Saturday 25 May, new musical theatre makers will unveil their work and a diverse group of makers will gather for a day of creativity.
O. further presents (Dutch) premieres including DEEP/END by Club Gewalt and De Dansers (NL), ZUAM by Futurists Foundation / Jerzy Bielski (PL/NL), Fledermaus Forever with Ma’Ma Queen as special guest by Les Âmes Perdues, Tom Goossens, DESCHONECOMPANIE (BE/NL) and The Inner Circle by Rajiv Bhagwanbali (NL).
The full programme can be found here!
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Locatie
O. gebruikt haar stad als podium en decor. Veel voorstellingen zijn op onalledaagse en onontdekte locaties in de stad: pleinen, woonkamers, kerken, een oude wasserij, winkel, bovenop de Bijenkorf en zelfs een fitnesscentrum.
