Cities with the Most Opera Performances

Name the cities that had the most opera performances from 2016–2025.

Source: operabase.com

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Last updated: February 20, 2026

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First submitted	January 20, 2015
Times taken	34,529
Average score	76.0%
Rating	4.57

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#	City
6498	London
6409	Moscow
5626	Saint Petersburg
5210	Vienna
4753	Berlin
3775	Paris
3657	New York City
3341	Munich
2976	Hamburg

#	City
2858	Prague
2576	Budapest
2192	Dresden
2036	Frankfurt
1966	Madrid
1866	Amsterdam
1810	Zurich
1675	Dusseldorf

#	City
1612	Stuttgart
1584	Copenhagen
1543	Warsaw
1523	Barcelona
1454	Cologne
1364	Salzburg
1352	Tokyo
1339	Milan

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71 Comments

+61

Level 61

Nov 26, 2017

Not one Italian city?

+18

Level 82

Nov 26, 2017

I was surprised about that too, the first opera house I thought of was La Scala in Milan.

+30

Level 69

Apr 29, 2021

I know. I typed Milan 12 times.

Level ∞

Feb 20, 2026

Expanded the number of cities so that Milan makes an appearance :)

Level 77

Nov 26, 2017

IKR? I thought Italian opera singers were practically a cliche.

Level 63

Nov 26, 2017

Extraordinary, given that Italy was the birthplace of opera. According to the source, four Italian cities are in the top 50; they come in at #22 (Venice), #30 (Rome), #36 (Milan) and #41 (Florence).

+14

Level 75

Nov 26, 2017

It just means the performances are less concentrated in one place. Apart from Germany, even the US only has one city in the top and it's a huge country. Besides, you can get from Rome to Florence in a train in under 90 minutes, so you can go see opera at either one.

+20

Level 62

Nov 26, 2017

In Italy every middle-size town has its own opera theatre. Italy ranks 4th in the general classification, with 1393 opera performances last year, but in Venice — the 1st ranking Italian city — there have been only 139 performances.

Level 77

Dec 2, 2017

Well, the source gives also a per capita statistic, putting Italy on 17th place.

Level 79

Nov 27, 2017

Yeah, I must've tried 5 Italian cities before trying anything else. Pretty surprising to be honest, although the explanations people have posted here explain things pretty well.

Level 80

Aug 31, 2022

I'm pretty sure Verona is in Italy. Maybe the quiz was updated? Still I'm surprised not to see more Italian cities there.

Level 69

Oct 16, 2022

Verona is in italy, but yeah, I kept typing Milan and Rome (plus a couple of others) thinking there must be some mistake.

Level 64

Nov 13, 2023

verona?

Level 67

Nov 30, 2025

Verona is in Italy, but fair enough its not popular as Rome, Milan etc.

+10

Level 56

Dec 20, 2017

Great quiz! I am quite amazed that 9 out of 20 are in the german speaking world and that there is not a single italian city

+11

Level 51

Jun 14, 2019

In Germany, theatres, opera houses and orchestras are subsidised, which means that there is a theatre in every town of a certain size. More money means more performances. Italy is the birthplace of opera, but the state doesn't care much about culture. This is also why major Italian corporations sponsor some of the country's heritage sites, like the Colosseum.

Level 88

Feb 23, 2018

Wow, I somehow got them all on the first try.

Level 56

Feb 23, 2018

Great quiz!

Level 80

Feb 23, 2018

Thanks!

Level 86

Feb 23, 2018

Interesting quiz, and the source website is fascinating.

Level 89

Feb 23, 2018

North-central Europe sure does love their opera. Also, I can't believe I forgot about the world's most famous opera house.

Level 94

Feb 23, 2018

Milan isn't on the list:)

Level 94

Feb 23, 2018

The Teutons love them some opera.

Level 50

Feb 23, 2018

Ahhhh...I went to one of those 245 Paris performances. It's supposed to be one of the greatest opera houses in the world (to be fair, the location was beautiful)...it turns out that 'King Lear' actually meant a German 'interpretation' of King Lear. There was a naked fellow on stage at one point. We left after the first act and it looked like most of the audience did as well. I just don't even know anymore.

+23

Level 56

Feb 26, 2018

Oh no - if you didn't like that one performance, the Paris Opera couldn't possibly be one of the best in the world! And everybody knows naked bodies have no place in the arts - we should all be ashamed of them (somebody should have told Michelangelo as well). Also: Yes, the opera "Lear" is a german opera based on William Shakespeare's King Lear - could have easily googled that before buying tickets.

Level 87

Jul 10, 2019

Aesthus, I'm with you. And cerealkiller needs a hug.

Level 37

Feb 24, 2018

Wow...7 German cities

Level 67

Feb 24, 2018

Wow, almost two opera performances in Moscow every day!

Level 48

Jan 21, 2020

Good quiz. Got all but hanover

Level 80

Jan 22, 2020

Thank you!

Level 58

Jun 27, 2020

This is typical racism. Beijing has probably triple the amount of Opera performances. But this is just for western countries.

+33

Level 80

Jun 27, 2020

You can justify your anger by citing credible sources.

+28

Level 51

Dec 9, 2020

"I hate Chinese, how will I target them? Oh, I know! Exclude them from a quiz about cities with the most opera performances!"

+11

Level 66

Oct 29, 2021

If the stat is true, where is the racism?

If the stat is false, that is not racism, that is wrong data.

But you can easily prove the intentional and racist use of wrong data by citing the actual source, that shows how better Beijing is doing in the number of opera performances.

Level 83

Nov 7, 2022

Sometimes, racism is systemic, which could be the case here if the definition of what opera is and the recording of data exclude non-Western performance art by design. I don't know anything about "Beijing" opera, but a quick internet search suggests that racism accusations are easily avoided here by including a caveat that explains what counts as opera and what does not.

Level 81

Aug 23, 2022

I'm going out on a limb here, but perhaps some people are mixing up "Beijing opera" vs. the "regular opera". It's debatable whether these should be both counted as "opera". If yes, then, in Beijing, one theater alone offers 365 shows on a normal year. Alright. The floor is yours.

Level 59

May 19, 2021

I misread it as "countries" and spent 3 minutes guessing countries and wondering why on earth Russia, France, and Austria weren't here.

Level 74

Sep 26, 2021

There's more than one opera a night?

Level 63

Mar 18, 2022

Cities can have multiple opera houses, ya' know?

Level 83

Aug 22, 2022

Oof, this was so hard! I only had 10 after a few minutes. Only 40 seconds left. Then I started hitting German cities like a bandit. With 1 second left, I managed to guess the Welsh one. I guess it’s true… it’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings… … :D

Level 96

Aug 22, 2022

I know absolutely nothing about opera. So maybe it's reasonable that I should be totally surprised at some of the answers in this quiz. Never in a million years would I have thought of some of the cities here versus all the ones in Italy that I did try.

Level 99

Aug 22, 2022

I wonder if covid skewed the results of this at all? I know Italy was hit particularly hard early in the pandemic. If they were locked down for a long time relative to other countires it might explain why they didn't have a lot of entries on this list.

Level 80

Aug 23, 2022

If you go to the source that is linked above you'll see that no Italian city was in the top 20 before 2020 either. Aloha19's comment here explains that the Italian state doesn't subisidize operas much, unlike Germany whose cities heavily feature here.

Level 63

Aug 23, 2022

Verona was in Italy last time I looked! But like other folk, one of my first guesses was Milan because of La Scala. Surprised not to see Beijing and Tokyo either. Interesting quiz, but does it take any account of smaller or amateur performances?

Level 80

Aug 31, 2022

The quiz covers 2017-2022. Verona wasn't in the top 20 in any year before 2020, as I wrote. I couldn't find out any specifics about what kinds of performances they include but the source is linked above.

Level 85

Apr 20, 2023

In Verona there is a beautiful (restored) Roman amphitheatre where operas are staged throughout the summer.

Level 80

Apr 20, 2023

@EcceHomo Cool, thanks for the info. If I ever get to Verona I'll try to go there :)

Level 80

Aug 23, 2022

Ah yes... Cardiff, but not Milan. Obviously.

Level 59

Nov 8, 2022

The Welsh do have something of a reputation for singing do they not?

Level 88

Aug 25, 2022

"Do you know any Klingon opera?"

"I don't get a lot of requests for it!"

Level 82

Aug 25, 2022

Have you considered the Puppet Opera House in Salzburg? They frequently put on 2 or 3 operas in a day. The only difference is that the performers are puppets with a soundtrack. They would be well up the list here.

Also very surprised not to see Milan on this list

Level 82

Aug 25, 2022

And if anyone finds themselves near Salzburg I thoroughly recommend this theatre. I saw the Magic Flute there a while back. Imagine what you can do with puppets in that opera

Level 76

Aug 27, 2022

I've never seen a quiz where the 2nd highest answer got so few correct.

Level 39

Sep 8, 2022

Tallinn was a shocker, i'm very proud of that

Level 78

Nov 7, 2022

I tried 5 or 6 Italian cities but not Verona, which had an opera performance on every night when I was there

Level 67

Nov 7, 2022

Tricky quiz. Many of the answers aren't the obvious cities you'd normally think of.

Level 57

Nov 7, 2022

I live in Cardiff and never would have guessed it

Level 93

Nov 7, 2022

Should have gotten Prague. Can't believe I missed that.

Level 66

Nov 8, 2022

Wasted a lot of time trying Italian cities as i thought they must be on the list!

Level 63

Jul 13, 2024

I'm really surprised Cardiff is on here, I've lived here all my life and you hardly ever hear about operas going on; must be the millenium centre

Level 54

Dec 26, 2025

Yes! I had a phase where I went 3 times in one year. The Welsh National Opera is based in the Millenium Centre

Level 87

May 19, 2025

17/20, pretty good!

Level 71

Jul 11, 2025

I just completely forgot Paris existed. Legendary stinker

Level 54

Dec 26, 2025

big up Cardiff!!

Level 73

Feb 20, 2026

I have learned that the German-speaking world loves opera

Level 94

Feb 20, 2026

It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings…

Level 89

Feb 20, 2026

I can't believe Sydney isn't on here. What are they using that opera house for?

Level 71

Feb 21, 2026

Tourist selfies of the exterior?

Level 87

Feb 24, 2026

I wondered the exact same thing. I guess it's just a prop.

Or just a model, like Camelot.

Level 70

Mar 21, 2026

No kidding, I thought the same thing.

Level 82

Feb 24, 2026

King Kong & Godzilla vs European capitals