Back to ensembles
Go to website
Den Ny Opera
With a view of the North Sea and an address in the beautiful Utzon-designed Musikhuset Esbjerg lies Den Ny Opera - Esbjerg's regional music-drama theatre.
The initiative to establish the regional theatre Den Ny Opera arose locally. Under the name Sydvestjysk Opera Ensemble, a handful of students at Vestjysk Musikkonservatorium throughout the 1990s were behind a series of opera productions which - with music students on stage and in the orchestra pit - were performed at the local Esbjerg Teater, and on tour at a long list of theatres around the country. Through these productions the company gathered experience of virtually every aspect of theatre production. The number of performances rose from production to production and showed that there was an audience for music drama, both locally and out in the country's theatre societies. In 1997 Musikhuset Esbjerg opened and two years later - on 1 January 1999 - Esbjerg Municipality and Ribe County established the regional music-drama theatre Den Ny Opera, with its home address and permanent venue in Musikhuset. Den Ny Opera thus came into being as a natural professional development of the initiative behind Sydvestjysk Opera Ensemble.
From the beginning, Den Ny Opera produced two adult productions every year with a premiere in Musikhuset Esbjerg and a subsequent tour of the country's theatre societies, along with an annual production for children, which was performed at schools and theatres across the country. The repertoire: Opera - from Handel and Mozart with period instruments in the orchestra, via Wagner's colossal Der Ring des Nibelungen, to newly written music drama for adults and, not least, for children.
Of course, the production of Richard Wagner's gigantic opera tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen is remarkable – 15 hours of opera spread over four performances, which together make up the absolute masterpiece of 19th-century music drama. In collaboration with Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Den Ny Opera carried out the production of the Ring in the years 2003-2008 and thereby firmly established its name as a serious player on the Danish opera scene.
In the years since the Wagner project, Den Ny Opera has increasingly sharpened another essential part of the company's profile: the use of period instruments (i.e. instruments from, or copies of instruments from, the 17th century and the 1800s) in the orchestra pit. In close collaboration with Barokksolistene - a Norwegian-based orchestra of 25-35 musicians from 12-15 different nations - all specialists in playing precisely these instruments - Den Ny Opera has over the years (most often for the first time in Denmark) presented operas by Handel, Mozart and Rossini with authentic orchestral sound.
Concerts
Loading concerts …
Scandinavia's largest newsletter about classical music
Get an overview of upcoming concerts, festivals and selected recommendations from across the region.