Michael Boder was a German conductor of opera and concert who worked internationally. He was music director of the Basel Opera from 1989 to 1993, of the Liceu in Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, and principal conductor of the Royal Danish Theatre to 2016. He conducted regularly at the Vienna State Opera, including the world premieres of Cerha's Der Riese vom Steinfeld and Reimann's Medea. He also conducted the premieres of operas by Pascal Dusapin, Hans Werner Henze, Luca Lombardi, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Manfred Trojahn, among others.

Ubu Rex is a satirical opera by Krzysztof Penderecki, on a libretto in German by the composer and Jerzy Jarocki, based on Alfred Jarry's 1896 play Ubu Roi. It uses models by Offenbach, Rossini, Shostakovich and Schnittke. The opera was premiered by the Bavarian State Opera on 6 July 1991 for the opening of the Munich Opera Festival, conducted by Michael Boder. The Polish premiere was 1993 in Grand Theatre, Łódź, conducted by Antoni Wicherek and directed by Lech Majewski.