The Board of the Berlin Opera Foundation today ratified the contract appointing Dr. Aviel Cahn as Artistic Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1^st August 2026. He will succeed Dietmar Schwarz, whose contract runs until the summer of 2025. The Board’s decision is in line with a recommendation of the advisory body set up by the Board’s chairman, Senator Dr. Klaus Lederer. The body was made up of Irene Bazinger, Amelie Deuflhard, Sarah Wedl-Wilson, Sir Donald Runnicles, Jossi Wieler and Klaus Lederer.

Aviel Cahn is currently General Manager of the Grand Théâtre de Genève. In 2009, following spells at the China National Symphony Orchestra in Peking, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki and the Stadttheater Bern, he became Artistic Director of the Opera Vlaanderen Antwerpen/Gent, a position he held until 2019. Aviel Cahn is President of the European Academy for Music Theatre, based in Vienna, and is a visiting lecturer at the University of Vienna and the Mozarteum Salzburg.

Senator for Culture Dr. Klaus Lederer: “I am delighted that the Board of the Berlin Opera Foundation has acted on the recommendation of the advisory body set up by me in unanimously voting to ratify a contract with Dr. Aviel Cahn. Berlin has secured the services of a hugely creative personality as future Artistic Director of the largest of its three opera house.”