| Deutsche Oper Berlin | |
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| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Coordinates | 52°30′46″N13°18′30″E / 52.51278°N 13.30833°E /52.51278; 13.30833 |
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| deutscheoperberlin | |
TheDeutsche Oper Berlin is a Germanopera company located in theCharlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largestopera house (afterMunich's[1]) and also home to theBerlin State Ballet.
Since 2004, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, like the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin State Opera), theKomische Oper Berlin, the Berlin State Ballet, and the Bühnenservice Berlin (Stage and Costume Design), has been a member of the Berlin Opera Foundation.[2]
The company's history goes back to theDeutsches Opernhaus built by the then independent city of Charlottenburg—the "richest town ofPrussia"[3]—according to plans designed byHeinrich Seeling from 1911. It opened on 7 November 1912 with a performance ofBeethoven'sFidelio, conducted byIgnatz Waghalter. In 1925, after the incorporation of Charlottenburg by the 1920Greater Berlin Act, the name of the resident building was changed toStädtische Oper (Municipal Opera).[4]
With the Naziseizure of power in 1933, the opera was under control of the ReichMinistry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. MinisterJoseph Goebbels had the name changed back toDeutsches Opernhaus, competing with theBerlin State Opera inMitte controlled by his rival, thePrussian minister-presidentHermann Göring. In 1935, the building was remodeled byPaul Baumgarten and the seating reduced from 2,300 to 2,098 places.Carl Ebert, the pre-World War II general manager, chose to emigrate from Germany rather than endorse the Nazi view of music, and went on to co-found theGlyndebourne Festival Opera in England.[5] He was replaced byMax von Schillings, who acceded to demands that he enact works of "unalloyed German character". Several artists, like the conductorFritz Stiedry and the singerAlexander Kipnis, followed Ebert into emigration. The opera house was destroyed by aRoyal Air Forceair raid on 23 November 1943. Performances continued at theAdmiralspalast in Mitte until 1945. Ebert returned to serve as general manager after the war.[6]
After the war, in what had now been calledWest Berlin, the company, again calledStädtische Oper, used the nearbyTheater des Westens; its opening production wasFidelio, on 4 September 1945. Its home was finally rebuilt in 1961 but to a much-changed, sober design byFritz Bornemann. The opening production of the newly renamedDeutsche Oper, on 24 September, was Mozart'sDon Giovanni.[7]
On the evening of 2 June 1967,Benno Ohnesorg, a student taking part in theGerman student movement, was shot in the streets around the opera house. He had been protesting against the visit to Germany by theShah of Iran, who was attending a performance of Mozart'sThe Magic Flute.[8]
PastGeneralmusikdirektoren (GMD, general music directors) have includedBruno Walter,Kurt Adler,Ferenc Fricsay,Lorin Maazel,Gerd Albrecht,Jesús López-Cobos,Giuseppe Sinopoli, andChristian Thielemann. In April 2001, Sinopoli died at the podium while conductingAida, at age 54. In October 2005,Renato Palumbo was appointed GMD as of the 2006–2007 season.[9] In October 2007, the Deutsche Oper announced the appointment ofDonald Runnicles as their nextGeneralmusikdirektor, effective August 2009, for an initial contract of five years.[10] Simultaneously, Palumbo and the Deutsche Oper mutually agreed to terminate his contract, effective November 2007. In November 2020, the company announced the most recent extension of Runnicles' contract as its GMD, through 2027.[11] In September 2023, the Deutsche Oper Berlin announced that Runnicles is to stand down as its GMD at the close of the 2025-2026 season, one season earlier than his most recent contract extension, at Runnicles' own request.[12]
The most recentIntendant (artistic director) of the company was Dietmar Schwarz, through 31 July 2025.[11] The current executive director of the company is Thomas Fehrle, who is currently contracted with the company through 2027.[11] In February 2023, the company announced the appointment of Aviel Cahn as its nextIntendant, effective 1 August 2026.[13] In September 2025, the company announced the appointments ofMaxime Pascal and Michele Spotti as co-principal guest conductors, and Titus Engel as 'conductor-in-residence', all effective in the summer of 2026.[14]
In September 2006, the Deutsche Oper's then-Intendantin (general manager)Kirsten Harms drew criticism after she cancelled the production of Mozart's operaIdomeneo byHans Neuenfels, because of fears that a scene in that production featuring the severed heads ofJesus,Buddha andMuhammad would offendMuslims, and that the opera house's security might come under threat if violent protests took place. (This is a departure from the originallibretto, in which there is no such scene.) Critics of the decision include GermanMinisters and theGerman ChancellorAngela Merkel.[15] The reaction from Muslims was mixed. The leader of Germany's Islamic Council welcomed the decision, whilst a leader of Germany's Turkish community, criticising the decision, said:
At the end of October 2006, the opera house announced that performances of Mozart's operaIdomeneo would then proceed.[17]
