Alte Oper

The Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall and former opera house in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was inaugurated in 1880, bombed in 1944, and rebuilt slowly in the 1970s, reopening only in 1981. The city's opera company operates now at a nearby modern building while the Alte Oper serves as home to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Important works have been premiered at the Alte Oper, including Carl Orff 's Carmina Buranain 1937.

The square in front of the building is known as Opernplatz (Opera Square). The Alte Oper is located in the district of Innenstadt and within the unofficial area known as the Bankenviertel.

A citizen's initiative campaigned for reconstruction funds after 1953 and collected 15 million DM. Ultimately costing about 160 million DM, the opera house was reopened on August 28, 1981, to the sounds of Gustav Mahler 's Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand". A live recording of that concert, conducted by Michael Gielen, is available on CD.

Because the new Frankfurt Opera House had already been built in 1951, the rebuilt Alte Oper was designed for use as a concert hall from the beginning of its reconstruction. Today, it regularly hosts concerts and plays.