Overview
- The Oper Köln reopened this week after a 14-year restoration that produced long delays and national criticism for planning failures.
- City accounting puts the final construction bill at about €800 million and the total cost including interim venues and interest near €1.5 billion.
- The reopening is being celebrated with a public festival on Offenbachplatz that features local acts and company performances and ushers the opera back into its restored home.
- Intendant Hein Mulders plans to balance traditional repertoire with at least one new premiere each season, expanded contemporary and baroque work, and more international co-productions.
- Officials and watchdogs say taxpayers must see broader public benefit: the mayor calls for a ‘stage for all,’ critics note the high opportunity cost, and local surveys show only about one in five residents attends opera at least once a year.