The Staatsoper Berlin has successfully arrived at the Schiller Theater with the first premieres of the season

During last summer Berlin may have experienced one of the biggest moves in the history of the city when the Staatsoper, Berlin’s oldest opera house, left its home in Berlin-Mitte due to an extensive three-year renovation of the venue Unter den Linden. For this period of time the Staatsoper has found a new temporary home in the Schiller Theater - located 6 km to the west of Unter den Linden in the area of Charlottenburg. Especially adapted in order to fulfil the requirements to function as a venue for opera, the Schiller Theater re-opened on October the 3rd –17 years after its closing in 1993. The house can look back on a rich theatrical history that does not only include the legendary staging of Waiting for Godot directed by Beckett himself. Next to the main stage, that seats 974 audience members, the Schiller Theater offers two further performance spaces: The “Werkstatt” – a venue for more intimate productions with a capacity of 99 seats – which shall be predominantly used for innovative work with a focus on new music as well as for youth theatre. Furthermore the “Foyer”, with its stunning glass facade, could be gained as an additional space for concerts, discussions and readings. With the world premiere of Jens Joneleit’s METANOIA and the premiere of DAS RHEINGOLD, a cooperation with the Teatro alla Scala Milan directed by Guy Cassiers, the new season under the artistic director Jürgen Flimm and GMD Daniel Barenboim has taken a successful start and has furthermore passed all tests in regards to acoustics with splendour. The next big premiere of the season will be Krzysztof Warlikowski’s staging of Igor Stravinsky’s THE RAKE ́S PROGRESS – which will open on the 10th of December. With an excellent ensemble of singers – such as Anna Prohaska (Anne), Andreas Bauer (Trulove), Florian Hoffmann (Tom Rakewell) and Gidon Saks (Nick Shadow) – as well as the Staatsopernchor and 13 performers, Krzysztof Warlikowski and his team don’t paint a portrait of manners of the 18th Century, but instead approach the opera as a story of an “American way of life“ of a boy who grew up in the province – an interpretation which even leads to Andy Warhol’s “factory“ in New York. THE RAKE’S PROGRESS will be performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher.

(Press release/Staatsoper im Schiller Theater)