Foto: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen
29.01.25
Ever since its inception in 2009, the Copenhagen Opera Festival has been a success story of creating popular and innovative opera in the Danish capital, bringing the world of opera out from within the traditional opera houses. Since Amy Lane, former Head Staff Director for the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, first took the helm in 2020, the festival has increasingly focused on developing new talent, international collaboration and the presentation of new works.
The festival is now pleased to announce that Amy Lane will continue in the role of Artistic Director until the end of 2026 and that Rikke Frisk, who joined the Festival as Chief Producer in 2017, takes on the newly created position of Executive Festival Director, creating a co-leadership model for the first time.
The overarching vision is still to be the most prominent opera festival within Northern Europe, creating an inclusive and ambitious programme that both challenges and celebrates known formats and brings people together across social and cultural divides, regardless of their prior knowledge of opera. Now, the board, together with Lane and Frisk, has fine-tuned the management structure of the organization, placing the duo in an ideal position to carry on the festival’s efforts with artistic innovation and development of the Danish opera scene.
"This festival would never be what it is today without both myself and Rikke standing side by side. Therefore, I believe it is time to celebrate this and to acknowledge that the future journey for the festival requires both of our skillsets and can thrive even more through a dual-management structure," Lane notes about the change.
Joint leadership to strengthen creative focus
The new management structure reinforces a developmental process that the festival has already been in for the last few years. While the festival has been branching out into more formats, larger international collaborations and greater artistic ambitions, the overlapping skillsets required of both positions have become increasingly clear.
“The festival has grown, and it has been able to do so, thanks to the increasing application of both our skillsets. The new joint leadership allows us to focus even more sharply on our respective areas of expertise and to fine-tune the continued development of our beloved festival. In this way, this new distribution of responsibilities really supercharges our continued work.”
As an experienced and internationally recognised opera director, Amy Lane’s primary focus will be artistic content and curation of the broad variety of the festival’s programme, casting, international artistic collaborations, and discovery and support of new talent. This materializes clearly in the festival's increasing artistic ambitions and evolving international collaborations.
Simultaneously, the festival will continue to benefit from Rikke Frisk’s experience with cultural organisation, audience development and innovative formats, contributing to the festival's focus on reaching a wider audience, setting new agendas and acting as a hub for independent artists in Danish music drama and its foreign partners. In recent years, Frisk has built on music-dramatic networks in Europe and launched several national collaborations with other festivals, opera houses and organisations within the country.
"We want to be at the disposal of the ecosystem of freelancers and independents within opera and neighboring scenes where there is a desire for more collaboration and shared organization goals. Independent agents within Danish and international music drama should be able to use us as a platform for more collaboration and stronger exchange. That is why we are constantly working hard to sharpen our International Industry Platform and other initiatives that bring together the freelance sector from home and abroad."
The fruitful overlap between Lane and Frisk’s areas of expertise is clear when it comes to network, operation and artistic vision. With the new structure, resources are freed up to dedicate an even stronger effort to each of the festival's core ambitions. In the coming years, the organization will especially concentrate its work on:
Copenhagen Opera Festival 2025 will take place from August 15th-24th, spreading across Copenhagen with its diverse programme, including the free Festival Stage in the vibrant neighborhood of Nørrebro; a new opera hub at Aveny-T theatre as a space for new works, working presentations and our industry platform; concerts all over the city and pop-up performances and a talks and insights programme.
Copenhagen Opera Festival 2025 is supported by:
15. Juni Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Beckett-Fonden, Bikubenfonden, Den Danske Forskningsfond, Det Obelske Familiefond, Frederiksbergfonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Koda Kultur, Københavns Kommune, Statens kunstfond, William Demant Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond.
Foto: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen
29.01.25
Ever since its inception in 2009, the Copenhagen Opera Festival has been a success story of creating popular and innovative opera in the Danish capital, bringing the world of opera out from within the traditional opera houses. Since Amy Lane, former Head Staff Director for the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, first took the helm in 2020, the festival has increasingly focused on developing new talent, international collaboration and the presentation of new works.
The festival is now pleased to announce that Amy Lane will continue in the role of Artistic Director until the end of 2026 and that Rikke Frisk, who joined the Festival as Chief Producer in 2017, takes on the newly created position of Executive Festival Director, creating a co-leadership model for the first time.
The overarching vision is still to be the most prominent opera festival within Northern Europe, creating an inclusive and ambitious programme that both challenges and celebrates known formats and brings people together across social and cultural divides, regardless of their prior knowledge of opera. Now, the board, together with Lane and Frisk, has fine-tuned the management structure of the organization, placing the duo in an ideal position to carry on the festival’s efforts with artistic innovation and development of the Danish opera scene.
"This festival would never be what it is today without both myself and Rikke standing side by side. Therefore, I believe it is time to celebrate this and to acknowledge that the future journey for the festival requires both of our skillsets and can thrive even more through a dual-management structure," Lane notes about the change.
Joint leadership to strengthen creative focus
The new management structure reinforces a developmental process that the festival has already been in for the last few years. While the festival has been branching out into more formats, larger international collaborations and greater artistic ambitions, the overlapping skillsets required of both positions have become increasingly clear.
“The festival has grown, and it has been able to do so, thanks to the increasing application of both our skillsets. The new joint leadership allows us to focus even more sharply on our respective areas of expertise and to fine-tune the continued development of our beloved festival. In this way, this new distribution of responsibilities really supercharges our continued work.”
As an experienced and internationally recognised opera director, Amy Lane’s primary focus will be artistic content and curation of the broad variety of the festival’s programme, casting, international artistic collaborations, and discovery and support of new talent. This materializes clearly in the festival's increasing artistic ambitions and evolving international collaborations.
Simultaneously, the festival will continue to benefit from Rikke Frisk’s experience with cultural organisation, audience development and innovative formats, contributing to the festival's focus on reaching a wider audience, setting new agendas and acting as a hub for independent artists in Danish music drama and its foreign partners. In recent years, Frisk has built on music-dramatic networks in Europe and launched several national collaborations with other festivals, opera houses and organisations within the country.
"We want to be at the disposal of the ecosystem of freelancers and independents within opera and neighboring scenes where there is a desire for more collaboration and shared organization goals. Independent agents within Danish and international music drama should be able to use us as a platform for more collaboration and stronger exchange. That is why we are constantly working hard to sharpen our International Industry Platform and other initiatives that bring together the freelance sector from home and abroad."
The fruitful overlap between Lane and Frisk’s areas of expertise is clear when it comes to network, operation and artistic vision. With the new structure, resources are freed up to dedicate an even stronger effort to each of the festival's core ambitions. In the coming years, the organization will especially concentrate its work on:
Copenhagen Opera Festival 2025 will take place from August 15th-24th, spreading across Copenhagen with its diverse programme, including the free Festival Stage in the vibrant neighborhood of Nørrebro; a new opera hub at Aveny-T theatre as a space for new works, working presentations and our industry platform; concerts all over the city and pop-up performances and a talks and insights programme.
Copenhagen Opera Festival 2025 is supported by:
15. Juni Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Beckett-Fonden, Bikubenfonden, Den Danske Forskningsfond, Det Obelske Familiefond, Frederiksbergfonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Koda Kultur, Københavns Kommune, Statens kunstfond, William Demant Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond.
