The modern Leipzig Opera house at Augustusplatz began construction in 1956 and was inaugurated on October 8, 1960, with Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The article does not name its architect or describe its style. It replaced the earlier Neues Theater, which opened in 1868 and was destroyed in an air raid on the night of December 3, 1943.
Opera in Leipzig is much older than the building. The article dates it to Singspiel performances in 1693, and Telemann directed the first opera house, the Oper am Brühl, from 1703 to 1705. Several operas premiered in the city, including Weber's Oberon in 1826 and Schumann's Genoveva in 1850.
The company has no orchestra of its own. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra plays for it, a relationship that began in 1766.
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