Komische Oper Berlin

The founding of the Komische Oper Berlin goes back to the year 1947. At that time, the Austrian director Walter Felsenstein opened the theatre’s operations on the Behrenstraße with Johann Strauss’s operetta “Die Fledermaus” and thereby laid the foundation for a new era of the modern musical theatre.

Felsenstein continued as intendant and artistic-director of the house until his death in 1975; to this day, many of his founding artistic ideas still emboss the Komische Oper’s image. In order to get a true experience, the majority of performances are still brought to stage in the original German language—unprecedentedly unique within international opera stagings. Furthermore, since 2009, a modern display located at the audience seats provides German and English subtitles of the texts.

The repertoire of the Komische Opera broadly encompasses operas ranging from the 18th century across the key works of our time up to world premieres. Since 2002, Andreas Homoki is the artistic-director and intendant of the house; Patrick Lange is the musical director from the 2010/2011 season on. The from the newspaper Opernwelt nominated “2007 Opera house of the year” that places the music and theatrical drama equally next to each other, was with its lively music theatre concept, able to win for the long term, leading directors such as Barrie Kosky, Calixto Bieito and Hans Neuenfels for its house.

From 1966 to 2004 the Komische Oper Berlin had its very own ballet ensemble. Despite the heavy damages of the 2nd Word War, the neo-baroque auditorium of the 1882 constructed building stayed with its 1,190 audience member seats mostly untouched, and today stands under monumental protection. The entrance area on the other hand was completely destroyed. In the middle of the 1960’s the house was thoroughly brought up to date and the façade received its today’s form from the designs of the architect Kunz Nierade.

Infos for school classes

School classes can explore the Opera House as part of a conducted tour both in front of and behind the stage. A special highlight for pupils and teachers are the concert rehearsals, during which the conductor will explain the music to the pupils and let them look over his shoulders while working.