9 Best Performing Arts in Frankfurt, Germany

The most glamorous venue for classical and contemporary music concerts and ballet is the Alte Oper, one of the most beautiful buildings in Frankfurt, which opened in 1880. Tickets to performances can range from €20 to nearly €150. There is a bar or bistro on each level for drinks, coffee, and pastries during intermission, and the elegant Restaurant Opera for dining before or after performances.

Widely regarded as one of the best in Europe, the Frankfurt Opera is known for its dramatic artistry. Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss both oversaw their own productions for the company, now housed in a modern glass-walled building in the city center. In an effort to introduce a new generation to opera, there are special family programs with free tickets for children and teens up to 19 years. Ticket prices from €15 and intermission refreshments from the in-house restaurant, Fundus, which also serves after-theater dinner.

Tickets for theater, concerts, and sports events can be purchased from Best Tickets downtown in the Zeilgalerie.

For English-language productions, try the English Theatre, continental Europe's largest English-speaking theater, which offers an array of musicals, thrillers, dramas, comedies, and poetry readings with British or American casts. The bar, James, is open before and after performances.

The huge glass-domed Festival Hall, commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1905, is the scene of many rock concerts, horse shows, ice shows, sporting events, circus and other large-scale spectaculars including trade fairs. It is on the city's fairgrounds, just 10 minutes from downtown by subway. Tickets are available through Frankfurt Ticket, or at the on-site ticket office.

The Internationales Theater Frankfurt bills itself as presenting "the art of the world on the Main." It has regular performances in English, as well as in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Russian, plus concerts by international jazz, folk, and pop rock musicians. There also is a book-lined café, Cafe Litera.

The city is the home of the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, part of Hessischer Rundfunk. Considered one of Europe's best orchestras, it performs regularly in the 850-seat Kammermusiksaal, part of that broadcasting operation's campuslike facilities.

This cultural center hosts an eclectic mix of concerts of all kinds, as well as plays, dance performances, and exhibits.

The municipally owned Schauspielhaus has a repertoire that includes works by Sophocles, Goethe, Shakespeare, Brecht, and Beckett, along with more contemporary plays, including by Arthur Miller. All are performed with modern, even avant-garde staging, with English subtitles.