Many premieres, special location performances and more at anniversary edition of O.

The twentieth edition of O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre. Theatre. offers more than 100 performances and 50 different productions that can be seen at 30 different locations in and around Rotterdam. From the heart of Rotterdam city centre to an abandoned car park in Zuid. O. takes place from Friday 23 May to Sunday 1 June. The full programme for O. 2025 is now known and ticket sales are via this link.

O. has been the new name for Operadagen Rotterdam since 2021. It is an international festival with a programme full of surprises: from international top to primal Rotterdam and adventurous location projects. Made by young makers and established names from home and abroad.

''O. is an important moment both in its own city, nationally and internationally for showcasing new forms of opera and musical theatre. Professionals alongside amateurs, older people alongside young people and local artists alongside top international performers. We go all over the city again with location projects and in many projects we work with local choirs, because singing together connects. And that's what O. stands for. An open festival where everyone belongs and gets ideas for hopefully a better world," says Guy Coolen, artistic director O.

Highlights

At the new Luxor Theatre, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra i.c.w. Laurens Symphonic (NL) present the human quest for immortality in the premiere of Anima Obscura.

Studio Vacuum / Mees Vervuurt premieres A Myth, providing a musical, sensory immersion into an elusive mythical world in BRUTUS.

n TR25 Schouwburg is a large and multifaceted programme, including a sizzling mix of opera, slam, house and so much more in the Dutch premieres of Hannibal by De Cock & Junior Mthombeni / KVS (BE) and a bold fusion of opera and electronic music in the immersive club experience LU OpeRAVE by Fattoria Vittadini.

At the Cape, in close collaboration with Theatre Walhalla, no fewer than nine productions are on offer, including the (Dutch) premieres of 24 Italian Songs & Arias, a show about failure by two award-winning failures, a ratgirl summer in Versailles and a duet between a young woman and the silver screen.

Developing new work

This edition, the festival again has an eye on the development of new work. During O. Lab, the audience is actively involved in the creative process. Theatre-makers present research material and enter into a dialogue with the audience based on their questions.

New this year are the Works in Progress: performances in the making. Here, as a visitor, you get a peek into the rehearsal room on the way to a fully-fledged performance, which will be premiered in a future edition of O.

Image: NOW WE ARE EARTH by Reinout Bos