programme & tickets programme

Cologne Children's Opera

Award-winning and pioneering – that is the Cologne Opera's Children's Opera. Founded in 1996, it was the first institution of its kind in Europe. It is dedicated to creating and presenting opera for children and young people.

From Purcell, Mozart and Wagner to contemporary works and world premieres, audiences of all ages can discover the richness and diversity of opera in our productions. Our mobile productions also travel to nurseries and daycare centres, bringing opera to our youngest audiences.

The Children's Opera is not only a place to experience opera, but also to create it. Through a wide range of participatory projects, children and young people can become composers, librettists, set designers and performers themselves.

Programme 26/27

Did You Know?

… excellent voices can be heard: the singers of the International Opera Studio and the opera ensemble.

The Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne plays in the children's opera performances.

In the children's opera, the audience can experience elaborate stage sets, elaborate costumes and lots of stage magic – everything but pedagogical productions!

In our participatory productions, children and young people are also on stage themselves, singing and acting.

… is an experienced management team, supported by all of the company's trades and in particular by the Oper.Stadt.Schule department, which offers workshops, hands-on projects, holiday workshops and much more for all children's opera productions.

Audience members can also become active backstage themselves: as stage or costume designers, prop masters, authors and composers.

You can also complete an FSJ Kultur or a school internship at the children's opera.

For all young people, with and without disabilities, whether they have been to the opera before or are discovering it for the first time.

For all adults, with and without disabilities, who would like to enjoy an extraordinary opera performance in a relaxed atmosphere and with a compact running time.

For older people living with dementia, for whom we offer our „Opera for Young and Old“ programme.

For anyone curious to experience opera for the very first time.

For current and future opera lovers eager to be enchanted by outstanding productions.

The children's opera puts on 60–70 performances per season, partly as school performances and partly as family performances at weekends or during the holidays.

We stage two new productions and two revivals every year and tour daycare centres and kindergartens in Cologne and the surrounding area with a mobile production.

In 2019, the children's opera received the OPER! Award for the best education programme at an opera house. The inclusive project „Opera for young and old“ was honoured with the Rudi-Assauer-Prize from the Rudi Assauer non-profit Dementia and Society Initiative (GID) in 2017 and nominated for the German Demography Prize from the German Demography Network (ddn) in 2023.

The children's opera has been a UNICEF sponsor in Cologne since 2018 and is committed to strengthening children's rights.

Impressions

  • Scene from Freikugeln: Two performers in matching green-grey costumes with white details portray the character Max. The performer on the left uses German Sign Language, making Max accessible in two languages, while the other faces him attentively. Behind them, a stage set with the word “Freikugeln” and stylised fir trees fills the background. A white wedding dress stands in a decorative frame. Green lighting creates a fairy-tale-like, eerie atmosphere.
    FREIKUGELN – DER FREISCHÜTZ IN FÜNF DIMENSIONEN: Max (actor: Rafael-Evitan Grombelka) and Max (singer: Wesley Harrison) © Thilo Beu
  • Scene from Freikugeln: In the foreground, Agathe (Ela Beysun) lies on a large wooden box with her head resting in Ännchen’s lap. She wears a yellow patterned top, a white blouse, and black trousers. She uses German Sign Language (DGS), making the character Agathe accessible in two languages. Ännchen sits on the left, speaking to both Agathes. On the right sits the singing Agathe. In the background, Head Forester Kuno walks through a snowy nighttime landscape carrying a rifle.
    FREIKUGELN – DER FREISCHÜTZ IN FÜNF DIMENSIONEN: Ännchen (Alina König Rannenberg), Agathe (actor: Ela Beysun), Agathe (singer: Lena Geiger), and Head Forester Kuno (Maximilian von Ulardt) © Thilo Beu
  • The evil wizards Professor Beelzebub Irrwitzer and Tyrannja Vamperl from the children's opera The Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Wishpotion are brewing the magical Wishpotion. Surrounded by laboratory equipment, glowing green liquids, and thick clouds of smoke, they concentrate on their witch's laboratory experiment.
    DER SATANARCHÄOLÜGENIALKOHÖLLISCHE WUNSCHPUNSCH: Beelzebub Irrwitzer (Frederik Schauhoff) and his aunt Tyrannja Vamperl (KS Dalia Schaechter) © Sandra Then
  • Maurizio di Mauro and Krista Krakel stand among withered plants in a whimsical magical workshop. On the left, Maurizio di Mauro, made up as a cat and wearing a hoodie and cap, looks mischievously towards the audience. On the right, Krista Krakel stands in a black, feather-like costume with a striking hairstyle and dark makeup. Behind them are a skeleton, a skull, plants, and other mysterious objects. Scene from The Satanarchaeolügenialcohellish Wishpunch.
    DER SATANARCHÄOLÜGENIALKOHÖLLISCHE WUNSCHPUNSCH: Maurizio di Mauro (Rhydian Jenkins) and Krista Krakel (Maike Raschke) © Sandra Then
  • Scene from the children’s opera Max and Moritz: On a dark stage, Max and Moritz stand close together, looking startled towards the audience. Both wear light pink dungarees over pink T-shirts. Each holds a long black plank in front of them like a shield, with a white toilet paper roll hanging from a string attached to it. The scene suggests a moment of listening, hiding, or sneaking about under the spotlight.
    MAX AND MORITZ: Moritz (Johanna Thomsen) and Max (Rhydian Jenkins) © Matthias Jung
  • Scene from the opera Max and Moritz: On stage, Mrs Gagackel, wearing dark dungarees and a white knitted cardigan, sits beside Henriette the Hen / Mr Guru / Dr Brain / Belinda the Tarantula, who wears dark dungarees, a striped shirt, and a hat. Together they release numerous soap bubbles into the air. To the left, Trouble watches the scene in a colourful tracksuit (purple, pink, and turquoise) and a blue curly wig. He appears bored. The dark stage is filled with warm light and floating soap bubbles.
    MAX AND MORITZ: Trouble (John Heuzenroeder), Mrs Gagackel (Maike Raschke), and Dr Brain (Ferhat Baday) © Matthias Jung

Beyond the Stage