Five days of an extensive program with free admission from Tuesday, September 24 to Saturday, September 28, 2024, when the Alte Oper Frankfurt invites you to the FRATOPIA Festival. Following last year's successful premiere as a free event for the public, the Alte Oper has significantly increased the number of concerts on the five festival days. Almost 250 short concerts will take place between 3 p.m. and midnight on each of the five festival days. Up to eight halls, salons or foyers of the opera house will be used simultaneously. No ticket or registration is required to attend the concerts - only the hall capacity limits access. In terms of content, the festival focuses on exploring boundaries, diversity and surprises. The program ranges from solo performances to orchestral concerts, from Beethoven to songs by Billie Eilish and includes contributions from the fields of world music, jazz, early and new music, song, chamber music, symphonic music, tango, film music, jazz, flamenco and minimal music.
Music with format
At the FRATOPIA Festival, the classical concert format is suspended in favor of settings that enable a new listening experience. In the Great Hall and the Mozart Hall, the conventional seating will be dissolved and visitors will be able to sit around the musicians. In addition to the "Open Space" (Großer Saal) and the "Mittendrin" concerts in the Mozart Saal, the newly introduced reclining concerts in the Telemann Salon will also provide an unusual listening experience.
Artists and ensembles in an experimental mood
The FRATOPIA festival enables a reunion with artists and ensembles that have already been celebrated in the Alte Oper - such as ensemble reflektor, which this time comes to the Open Space with orchestral cover versions of Billie Eilish songs and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the creative wind ensemble Federspiel or jazz pianist Omer Klein, who invites you to music and talk late at night. Musicians and formations with a penchant for the experimental, such as the ensembles Wooden Elephant, Elbtonal Percussion and soprano Sarah Maria Sun, have also been invited. A number of concerts focus on a single solo instrument, such as those featuring percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, marimba player Ching-Yun Lin or French guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre, who is currently being celebrated internationally as a discovery. The artist Volker Gerling, who will be presenting his delicate art of flip-books in the Mendelssohn Salon on all days of the festival, will provide a counterpoint to the numerous sonic impressions. Last but not least, a number of Frankfurt musicians and ensembles such as the Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt, the Eliot Quartet and harpsichordist Eva Maria Pollerus will once again be guests.
Space for encounters
In addition to the concerts, the FRATOPIA Festival also offers opportunities for encounters or relaxation in the building. Catering is available in the Hindemith Foyer, the Clara Schumann Foyer and the Rosso Suite. In the Clara Schumann Foyer there is also a reading corner with international daily newspapers and literature on the topics of utopias and Frankfurt. There is also a small coworking space where anyone who wants to work can connect their notebook and use the free WiFi.
Spontaneously or with a plan - new: the digital FRATOPIA navigator
The FRATOPIA festival promises that all interested parties who come to the festival between 15.00 and 24.00 hours can spontaneously choose between several parallel concerts. The Alte Oper has a digital navigator to help you prepare in advance at home and to guide you through the specific offerings on site:
At alteoper.de/fratopia-app, visitors can find a daily updated overview of the festival program. They can use the filter function, search specifically for artists, genres, formats, dates and venues and thus conveniently put together their daytime or evening program. The web-based app does not need to be installed or downloaded and is free of charge.
