Opera Days Rotterdam is the Netherlands’ largest international festival devoted entirely to new opera and music theatre. Held every spring in venues across the port city, the ten-day gathering presents world and Dutch premieres alongside site-specific works, installations, talk-throughs and masterclasses that place creators shoulder-to-shoulder with audiences. The 2024 edition, running from 24 May to 2 June, is built around the theme “Who Owns the Opera?” and interrogates authorship, participation and the shifting power balance between maker, performer and public. More than 120 artists from fifteen countries are involved, ranging from established houses such as Dutch National Opera and Vlaamse Opera to independent collectives like Berlin’s Nico and the Navigators and the South-African Namibian duo Children of the Light. Highlights include the European premiere of “The Fires of Vengeance” by the Congolese-Dutch collective Kuumba, a choral installation inside the Maastunnel, the participatory “Sing Along: Requiem for a Young Planet” staged in a former grain silo, and the Rotterdam premiere of “Anatomy of a Martyr” by Syrian composer Shokri al-Kawaf. An extensive fringe programme offers open rehearsals, artist talks, a two-day makers’ fair where composers pitch new pieces to producers, and a hackathon in which coders and singers co-create digital scores. All events are within cycling distance; many are free or pay-what-you-want to lower thresholds for new audiences. The festival is bilingual Dutch-English and simultaneously interpreted when required. While most performances are live, selected shows are streamed with interactive chat options. Opera Days Rotterdam is produced by Stichting Opera Forward, supported by the City of Rotterdam, the Dutch Performing Arts Fund and a network of European cultural foundations.