Fidelio
June 2021 | ||||||
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Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su |
Opera in two acts
Libretto by Josef Sonnleithner, Stephan von Breuning and Georg Friedrich Treitschke
First performance on 23rd May, 1814 in Vienna
Premiered at Deutsche Oper Berlin on 12th June 2021
In German language with German and English surtitles
approx. 3 hours / one interval
Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance
Program and cast
Conductor: Donald Runnicles
Stage director: David Hermann
Set design, Costume design: Johannes Schütz
Light design: Ulrich Niepel
Chorus Master: Jeremy Bines
Dramaturgy: Lars Gebhardt
Leonore: Ingela Brimberg
Marzelline: Jacquelyn Stucker
Florestan: Brian Jagde
Don Pizarro: Markus Brück
Rocco: Tobias Kehrer
Don Fernando: Philipp Jekal
Jaquino: Gideon Poppe
1st Prisoners: Patrick Cook
2nd Prisoner: Tyler Zimmerman
Chorus: Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
The company's history goes back to the Deutsches Opernhaus built by the then independent city of Charlottenburg—the "richest town of Prussia"—according to plans designed by Heinrich Seeling from 1911. It opened on November 7, 1912 with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Ignatz Waghalter. After the incorporation of Charlottenburg by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, the name of the resident building was changed to Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera) in 1925.
Deutsches Opernhaus, 1912
With the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933, the opera was under control of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Minister Joseph Goebbels had the name changed back to Deutsches Opernhaus, competing with the Berlin State Opera in Mitte controlled by his rival, the Prussian minister-president Hermann Göring. In 1935, the building was remodeled by Paul Baumgarten and the seating reduced from 2300 to 2098. 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 the Glyndebourne opera festival in England. He was replaced by Max von Schillings, who acceded to enact works of "unalloyed German character". Several artists, like the conductor Fritz Stiedry or the singer Alexander Kipnis followed Ebert into emigration. The opera house was destroyed by a RAF air raid on 23 November 1943. Performances continued at the Admiralspalast in Mitte until 1945. Ebert returned as general manager after the war.
After the war, the company in what was now West Berlin used the nearby building of the Theater des Westens until the opera house was rebuilt. The sober design by Fritz Bornemann was completed on 24 September 1961. The opening production was Mozart's Don Giovanni. The new building opened with the current name.