About Operadagen Rotterdam

Rotterdam is a city with a fascinating operatic tradition, even though it does not possess an opera house. Rotterdam was named as the cultural capital of Europe for 2001, since which time the various organisations there that produce and present opera have worked closely together. As a united body they make the provision and the production of opera and music theatre possible in the city, they keep its quality high and they take each others' activities into account. Opera Rotterdam* was the title of the original combined body made up of eight Rotterdam artistic organisations; it was later to found Operadagen Rotterdam, a contemporary opera and music theatre festival that was first held in 2005.

This is a unique form of collaboration that is currently being much imitated, and not only in Rotterdam. It is a unique approach that can reckon on the support of the City of Rotterdam, given that this type of financing (governmental, institutional and public) provides an answer to current conditions in which the government is no longer assumed to provide the majority of the financing whilst still allowing us to fulfil our ambitions nonetheless.

The power of music and of the human voice when associated with theatre is overwhelming. The confrontation of the genre with new forms of presentation and of aesthetics creates a fascinating sense of excitement; this makes opera intensely interesting as a modern art form. By following every development in this field closely, Operadagen Rotterdam seeks to create an artistically valuable and significant international opera and music theatre festival for the city of Rotterdam.

* Opera Rotterdam; Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Concert- en congresgebouw de Doelen, O.T. Theater & Opera O.T., Luxor Theater Rotterdam, RO Theater and Rotterdam Festivals.