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Zurich received its first permanent theatre, the “Aktientheater”, in 1834 This was also the centre of Richard Wagner’s activities during his Zurich exile Today’s theatre, which seats 1,100, was built near Bellevue to plans by the Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer in 1891 after the 1834 building burnt down To begin with, both music and drama were performed at what was known as the “Stadttheater”, but after the construction of the new “Schauspielhaus” (playhouse) in 1926, the focus was shifted to opera, operetta and ballet

The history of Zurich Opera is rich in cultural highlights: Wilhelm Furtwängler began his career here, and in 1913 Richard Wagner’s “Parsifal” was given its first performance outside Bayreuth Ferruccio Busoni, Paul Hindemith, Richard Strauss, Othmar Schoeck, Arthur Honegger, Frank Martin and other famous composers all left their mark on the development of Zurich’s musical theatre Zurich Opera House has been the setting for numerous world premières, such as Alban Berg’s “Lulu”, Paul Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler”, Arnold Schönberg’s “Moses and Aron” Works by Heinrich Sutermeister, Giselher Klebe und Rudolf Kelterborn were also performed here for the first time

The years 1982 to 1984 were marked by the renovation and extension of the Opera House The renovated theatre was reopened with Wagner’s “Meistersingers of Nuremberg” and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekov opera “Der Kirschgarten”

Dr Claus Helmut Drese was Director of Zurich Opera House from 1975 to 1986, bringing it to a high artistic standard and earning the company international recognition, primarily as a result of the Monteverdi cycle, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt as conductor and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle as director and set designer Zurich Opera House gave guest performances of the Monteverdi cycle on several international opera stages The realisation of the Mozart cycle was also entrusted to the same team Claus Drese's successor was Christoph Groszer, former director in Wiesbaden, under whom the Mozart cycle came to an end Between 1987 and 1989, Groszer produced Wagner’s tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelungen” (Ralf Weikert/Claus Helmut Drese/UI de Rico/Waltraut Engelberg)

Alexander Pereira, formerly Secretary-General of the Vienna Konzerthaus, has been Director of Zurich Opera since the 1991/92 season He opened his first season with “Lohengrin”, the same opera that had inaugurated the theatre exactly 100 years earlier, in a sensational production by Robert Wilson From the very beginning, one of Alexander Pereira’s greatest concerns was the continuous development of a soloist ensemble He placed equal emphasis on promoting promising young artists, new types of performances, involving the public and collaborating with great artists International opera stars regularly give guest performances on the Zurich stage, complementing the ensemble for periods of several weeks

Recently Alexander Pereira has been strongly committed to Zurich Opera’s active and varied youth work, as well as encouraging the presence of Zurich’s opera productions on the international DVD market With great dedication, Alexander Pereira also ensured that the Canton of Zurich assumed the City of Zurich’s financial responsibilities, and hence those of the Opera House, in the spring of 1995 As one of the initiators of the Zurich Festival, since the autumn of 1996 Pereira has also been Artistic Director and a member of the Artistic Committee of the Zurich Festival, which was held for the first time in the summer of 1997 His contract as General Director of Zurich Opera runs until 2011 Professor Ferdinand Leitner was Chief Conductor from 1969 to 1983, and was succeeded by Ralf Weikert, who held the position until 1992 Weikert founded the successful Philharmonic Concerts (approximately five concerts per season) with the Zurich Opera Orchestra Two other important conductors are Nello Santi for the Italian repertoire and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, primarily for Mozart operas and more recently also for Johann Strauss, Jacques Offenbach, Carl Maria von Weber and Giuseppe Verdi Paolo Carignani, William Christie, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Adam Fischer, John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Jordan and Marc Minkowski also regularly conduct new opera productions

Franz Welser-Möst has been Chief Conductor of Zurich Opera since the 1995/96 season Born in Linz (Austria), Welser-Möst was Director of the famous London Philharmonic Orchestra before coming to Zurich Besides numerous appearances in Salzburg and Vienna, he works with all the world’s major orchestras Apart from a strong focus on the German repertoire, Franz Welser-Möst regularly conducts Italian, French or Slavic operas as well as operettas and ballets Highlights of this artistic symbiosis have been Wagner’s entire “Ring” cycle (2001/02) and the nomination by the renowned “Opernwelt” magazine of the Zurich Opera House Orchestra as “Orchestra of the Year 2001” Franz Welser-Möst has been Chief Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra since September 2002 Having continued his work in Zurich as Principal Conductor, he has held the position of General Musical Director of Zurich Opera since September 2005 His contract runs until 2011

Zurich audiences have always been fortunate in being able to hear world-famous singers such as Lisa della Casa, Kirsten Flagstad, Reri Grist, Tito Gobbi, Alfredo Kraus, James McCracken or Wolfgang Windgassen, and today are lucky enough to enjoy artists like Cecilia Bartoli, Christina Gallardo-Domas, Renée Fleming, Barbara Frittoli, Vesselina Kasarova, Luciana D’Intino, Solveig Kringelborn, Marjana Lipovsek, Emily Magee, Isabel Rey, Gabriele Schnaut, Carlos Álvarez, Marcelo Álvarez, Piotr Beczala, Renato Bruson, Carlo Colombara, José Cura, José van Dam, Marcello Giordani, Matthias Goerne, Thomas Hampson, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Salvatore Licitra, Leo Nucci, Juan Pons, Ruggero Raimondi, Matti Salminen, Peter Seiffert, Neil Shicoff and Christopher Ventris

Zurich Opera has its own ballet company of approximately 35 dancers Uwe Scholz, who died in 2004, was appointed Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer in the 1985/86 season He succeeded the Balanchine specialist Patricia Neary, who acted as Ballet Director from 1978 to 1985 Neary’s directorship saw performances by artists as Rudolf Nurejev and Gaye Fulton In 1992 Director Alexander Pereira appointed the Viennese choreographer Bernd Roger Bienert as the new Director of Zurich Ballet, which performs two or three premières and two revivals every season Heinz Spoerli, a native of Basel and one of the most internationally renowned choreographers of our time, took over the position of Ballet Director as of the 1996/97 season