Die Soldaten

An opera whose premiere in Cologne in 1965 became an epoch-making event and still resonates in public perception today as probably the most significant event at Oper Köln on Offenbachplatz. The realisation of this masterpiece, which was ground-breaking in its composition and operatic construction, had faced many obstacles in the run-up to the performance – including the temporary opinion that the work was "unperformable". The widely acclaimed premiere success, now with performances all over the world and a ranking as one of the most important German operas in the second half of the 20th century, have made the 1965 premiere even more significant. To mark the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth, Oper Köln presented a new production in 2018 under the musical direction of chief conductor François-Xavier Roth.

The plot, based on the 1776 play of the same name by Jakob Lenz, centres on Marie, the daughter of a respected merchant in the regimental town of Lille. Originally engaged to the cloth merchant Stolzius, she falls prey to the seducer Desportes, is abandoned by him, gets involved with a captain, is abandoned again, loses her good reputation, becomes the victim of an intrigue and is finally raped by a soldier, ends up on the street as a whore – in the end she is no longer recognised even by her own father.

Chief conductor François-Xavier Roth is at the podium of this semi-staged performance in the Philharmonie, which has been specially created for the major concert halls in Cologne, Hamburg and Paris by prominent director Calixto Bieito.

A co-production between the Gürzenich Orchester Köln and Oper Köln.