À la française!

When Jakob, a young boy from Cologne, moved from the Rhine to the Seine in 1833, Jacques was still a thing of the future. His later success may have already been in the offing, but it still wasn't easy for the ambitious young artist. A busy, exciting life between Cologne carnival and the humour of his father's Jewish family, between the dream of making a career as a cello virtuoso and finally succeeding as a composer.

We dedicate an entire evening to the broad spectrum of Jacques Offenbach's work. Based on his biography, we will hear instrumental music, excerpts from his curious operetta one-acts, classics like Die schöne Helena or Die Großherzogin von Gerolstein to large-scale operas like Hoffmanns Erzählungen (The Tales of Hoffmann).