More than 10,000 people visited the Dresden Semperoper on Sunday for its Open Day programme. The nearly sold-out event kicks off the company’s 2017-18 season, with opera fans and local residents from across the region in attendance.
Highlights of the Open Day included guided tours of the opera house, tours of the prop and costume departments, a kitchen serving local cuisine, costume workshops, a poster sale and children’s activities. Meanwhile, technical director Jan Seeger gave a demonstration of the opera house’s lighting, sound system and special effects.
There were also performances from soloists in the company, accompanied by pianist Johannes Wulff-Woesten, and a series of short talks given by company members including dancer Anna Merkulova, story editor Stefan Ulrich and tour manager Frank Seifert.
Attendees even had the chance to sing on stage and become a ‘Semper star for a day’, with entrants performing before an audience and a panel of judges.
Highlights from the upcoming season include a new staging of Hector Berlioz’s The Trojans (3 October, 2017), a new adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s Cabaret (6 April, 2018), and a new ballet version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (10 March, 2018).
