Opening Celebration 2025/26

The new season under new artistic direction will be celebrated this year with a unique event. At "24h Opera House," visitors will for the first time have the opportunity to explore the opera house for an entire night and a full day. On Friday evening at 11:00 p.m., the 24 hours begin with night concerts, night tours, sleeping on stage, and a six-hour dance performance lasting into the early morning.

The program includes: Arnold Schönberg’s string sextet "Verklärte Nacht," performed by musicians of the Zurich Opera House Orchestra (from 11:00 p.m.). At midnight, ensemble singer Siena Licht Miller presents, together with composer Kaan Bulak, his new work "The moon is not a mirror" for mezzo-soprano, piano, and electronics. In addition, she will perform songs and arias by Brahms, Mahler, Bizet, and Edith Piaf (from 12:00 a.m.). Swiss-French sound artist Noémi Büchi will present an exclusive electroacoustic set starting at 1:00 a.m. Special night tours complement the program, and there will also be a gastronomic offering.

After that, nothing stands in the way of a few hours of sleep on stage, since numerous beds from the sets of various theater productions will be available. Anyone who brings a sleeping bag or blanket can spend the night directly on the opera house’s main stage – the very place usually home to singers, dancers, and the orchestra.

At the same time, choreographer and dancer Lucas Valente will present the six-hour dance performance "The Thing I Can’t Stop Doing" in the Mirror Hall. The piece begins at midnight and ends in daylight (Mirror Hall 12:00–6:00 a.m.).

After coffee and croissants (from 6:00 a.m.), the day can begin with a joint yoga session (from 7:00 a.m.), before the daytime program kicks off at 10:00 a.m. in the opera house, the theater workshops, and on Sechseläutenplatz. Visitors can enjoy many exclusive insights into opera, ballet, and orchestra rehearsals, public stage set changes, workshop tours, dance workshops, and a varied children’s program. Finally, on Saturday evening, after a full 24 hours, a live DJ on Sechseläutenplatz will bring the event to a close.

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The calendar is shown below. You can also download the programme schedule and and the location map here.