ABOUT US

With several hundred events per year, COFO Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG, headquartered in Passau, is one of the leading promoters in all German-speaking countries. In 2024 the event company will celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Oliver Forster with his ever-growing & committed creative team of currently around 30 permanent employees ensures that the success story of the former family business is continually continued and that the event portfolio is constantly maintained and expanded.

LOCAL PROMOTER

As a local promoter, COFO covers a wide spectrum of entertainment like no other, presenting the stars of rock, pop, rap and Schlager as well as musicals, dance shows, festivals, comedy, family entertainment, but also various themed exhibitions and much more.

These include national and international top acts and shows such as:
Elton John, Sting, Tom Jones, Toto, Simply Red, Bryan Adams, Joe Cocker, James Blunt, Chris de Burgh, José Carreras, Eros Ramazzotti, Zucchero, CRO, Sarah Connor, Rea Garvey, The Fantastic Four, Peter Maffay, Xavier Naidoo, David Garrett, Andreas Gabalier, Rainhard Fendrich, André Rieu, Nena, Silbermond, Hubert von Goisern, Bülent Ceylan, Eckart von Hirschhausen, Luke Mockridge, Ehrlich Brothers, Riverdance and many more.

Elton John

Bryan Adams

TOUR PROMOTER

In addition to the local concert business, another main focus of COFO is the touring business. Not least thanks to their collaboration with the successful Berlin-based producer Bernhard Kurz, Oliver Forster has succeeded in creating and establishing a completely new segment on the European market with so-called musical biographies about the great music legends of the 60s, 70s and 80s such as Elvis, the Beatles, Abba, the Blues Brothers or Tina Turner. In addition to “ELVIS – The Musical”, the in-house productions “FALCO – Das Musical”, “BEAT IT! – Die Show über den King of Pop!” and “That’s Life – Das Sinatra-Musical” are among the most successful touring productions in recent years in German-speaking countries.

Tours by national and international stars and music productions are also regularly on the agenda, such as most recently with star violinist David Garrett or “The Music of Hans Zimmer vs. John Williams” in the original production from London.

Simply The Best Die Tina Turner Story

FALCO Das Musical

PRODUCTIONS

In 2017, another highlight in the company’s history was achieved with the in-house production of “FALCO – Das Musical”. To date, the musical biography about the life and music of the Austrian superstar has excited several hundred thousand viewers.

But that’s not all: “BEAT IT! – Die Show über den King of Pop” about the exceptional artist Michael Jackson is another in-house production by COFO Entertainment and was seen on major tours through Europe for several years.

With “That’s Life – Die Sinatra-Story” another COFO masterpiece was created. This show about the life and music of Frank Sinatra was appreciated by audiences in Germany, Austria and Switzerland after its premiere in Berlin in January 2020.

EXHIBITIONS

The successful entry into the international exhibition business was sealed in 2013 with the exhibition about the world-famous Terracotta Army and the 1st Emperor of China in the Upper Austrian capital Linz. This was followed by the blockbuster exhibitions “Tutankhamun – His Tomb and the Treasures”, “Da Vinci – The Genius”, “Body Worlds”, “Titanic – Real Finds, True Fates” throughout the German-speaking countries.

During the pandemic, the exhibition portfolio was expanded even further. Under the motto “Art as an Experience”, “The Great Masters of the Renaissance”, “Andy Warhol – Pop Art Identities”, “Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience”, “Klimt – The Immersive Experience” and “Dalí Surreal – The Immersive Exhibition Experience” were created and they established a completely new form of art presentation for a broad and interested audience.

Together with the street art show “The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind”, produced by Oliver Forster, around 50 exhibition projects have been implemented in Germany and abroad since 2021 alone, captivating millions of visitors from all walks of life. The brand new pop-up concept “House of Banksy – An Unauthorized Exhibition” is the second project themed about the celebrated artist.

COFO is now one of the so-called big players in the international exhibition business, which is why the subsidiary COFO Exhibitions was founded in 2023 and has since been bringing exhibitions to European cities from Wroclaw to Oslo to Zurich.

In 2020, COFO also organised a family adventure park for the first time, DINOLAND. After two years on the castle ground in Tüßling, over 70 life-sized dinosaur models moved to the now permanent location at Castle Katzenberg (Innviertel, Austria). The adventure park is constantly developing, offers not only the prehistoric giants but also numerous play stations and is now a permanent leisure institution for families in the Bavarian-Austrian border area and beyond.

COMPANY HISTORY

Werner Forster laid the foundations for the success story in 1968. He signed Roy Black, Rex Gildo and Peter Alexander, the then stars of German show business, to Passau.
A short time later, as a local promoter, he organized almost all the concerts in south-east Bavaria, including international top stars such as Dire Straits, AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Harry Belafonte, Cliff Richard or Santana.
Until the end of the 1990s there have been performances of countless show stars like Udo Jürgens, Falco, Howard Carpendale, Supertramp, Herbert Grönemeyer, David Hasselhoff, Simple Minds, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Backstreet Boys, Jethro Tull, Status Quo, Montserrat Caballé and many others.
In 1997, Werner’s son Oliver Forster took over as CEO. In 1999, “COFO Concertbüro Oliver Forster GmbH & Co.KG” was newly founded Oliver Forster.
With innovative marketing concepts as well as efficient commercial, organisational and technical event management, Oliver Forster has set the course for the further successful marketing of catchpenny live entertainment. Full satisfaction of the audience and competent service as a promoter are the benchmarks of his entrepreneurial activity and an important guarantor for the company’s successful development.
The family business celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Werner Forster laid the foundation for the success story in 1968 when he signed Roy Black, Rex Gildo and Peter Alexander, the then stars of German show business, to Passau.

A short time later, as a local promoter, he promoted almost all concerts in southeast Bavaria, including top international stars such as Dire Straits, AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Harry Belafonte, Cliff Richard and Santana.

By the end of the 90s, there had been performances by countless show stars such as Udo Jürgens, Falco, Howard Carpendale, Supertramp, Herbert Grönemeyer, David Hasselhoff, Simple Minds, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Backstreet Boys, Jethro Tull, Status Quo, Montserrat Caballé and many others.

In 1997, Oliver Forster took over the local concert business as managing director of his father's company. In 1999, this core area was spun off into COFO Concertbüro Oliver Forster GmbH & Co. KG, newly founded by Oliver Forster, which was renamed COFO Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG in 2018 as part of a brand relaunch.

With innovative marketing concepts as well as efficient commercial, organisational and technical event realisation, Oliver Forster has set the course for the further successful marketing of live entertainment that appeals to the audience. The highest level of audience satisfaction and competent service as a promoter are the standards of his entrepreneurial activity and an important guarantee for the successful further development of the company, even after the death of the company founder, Werner Forster, on January 16, 2015.

The family business, once founded by Werner Forster, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018, while COFO celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2024.