Patrons - Deutsche Oper Berlin
Dear friends of opera!
With its very diverse and wonderful members who feel closely connected to the house, the Friends of Deutsche Oper Berlin have been supporting Berlin's largest and most modern opera house for decades. Bringing these "fans" of the house together across the generations is an exciting and honourable task, with the aim of strengthening Deutsche Oper Berlin for the future as one of the leading international houses in music theatre. It is a great pleasure to see what an integrative force the association can unleash through our members and our managing director Silke Alsweiler-Lösch. Join us!
Sincerely, Heike Maria von Joest,
Chairwoman of Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin e.V.
Welcome
Dr. Kilian Jay von Seldeneck
First deputy, on the board since 2016
Dr. Philipp Semmer
2nd deputy, on the board since 2008
Klaus Siegers
Treasurer, on the board since 2017
Sophie Prinzessin von Preußen
on the board since 2019
Theodora Schnauck-Betow
on the board since 2024
Prof. Dr. Axel Fischer
on the board since 2019
Dietmar Schwarz
Artistic Director, on the board since 2012
We support young talents – in our Talent Circle!
Our scholarship holders of the 2024/25
What connects Theodora Schnauck-Betow and Dr Angelika Volle, Dr Constanze and Olfert Landt, Ulrike and Walter Sandvoss, Rolf Haeger and Florian Chiutu-Haeger, among others? They are all supporting our young ensemble soloists in the Talent Circle. This season, the members are Jisu Park, Lilit Davtyan, Chance Jonas-O'Toole, Nina Solodovnikova, Alexandra Oomens, Kyle Miller and Martina Baroni.
Experience more together!
Viva la cultura et la vita
It is certainly one of the most beautiful experiences for opera enthusiasts to take a boat through evening Venice almost to the opera house and to be a guest there in the venerable Teatro La Fenice. The 33 members of the Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin experienced Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA (staged by Robert Carsen) at the legendary Teatro La Fenice in Venice on the 20th anniversary of the opera house's reconstruction. It was a bit uncertain whether the OTELLO evening would take place, as the premiere had already been cancelled in Venice due to a strike by the orchestra members. But the members of the support group were lucky and also experienced the last production of the current artistic director Fortunato Ortombina, who will take up his official post at the Teatro alla Scala in a few days. With glorious weather and a pre-Christmas atmosphere, Venice truly presented itself as La Serenissima to the 33 members of the support group!
Experience more together
We love opera!
Whether annual stage dinner, mountain festival, joint trip and other events: The Förderkreis lives its community of cultural enthusiasts and opera fans.
Experience more together!
Stroll around at the opera!
The invitation of the Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper to the first Wandel Oper! was taken up by 125 guests. The new format to kick off the 24/25 season took guests to hidden places in the opera house after a dinner together, where musical surprises awaited them. Current and former scholarship holders performed there, along with the students of the orchestra academy, who are also supported by the Förderkreis's Talent Circle: they performed in the props of the FLEDERMAUS, at the SLEEPING BEAUTY gate or on the opened barber's cart from IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. The guests, who experienced the evening divided into three groups, were thrilled and hope for the next Wandel Oper in 2025!
Would you like to become a member of the Förderkreis?
We will be happy to advise you and will find the most convenient form of membership together with you: be it friend, sponsor, patron or corporate partner ... Are you already a member of the Förderkreis and have suggestions, questions or wishes regarding your membership? Then please get in touch with us at the office of the Friends on +49 (0)30 343 84 240 or by e-mail.
Experience more together!
"The stone guest at the castle..."
It could hardly be more impressive! The rake Don Giovanni (DON GIOVANNI, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) and the megalomaniac Nabucco (NABUCCO, Giuseppe Verdi) wreak havoc in Olavinlinna Castle, built in 1472 in the middle of the Finnish lake district - a musical and theatrical delight, especially thanks to the powerful-voiced Mika Kares, who thrilled audiences as both the Commendatore and Zaccaria. A group of more than 30 members of the Friends travelled through Finland for five days, visiting the house of Jean Sibelius and the largest museum of mechanical musical instruments. The highlight was the Savonlinna Opera Festival, which was held in 1912 and is one of the oldest opera festivals in the world - and today welcomes more than 60,000 guests every year. Kiitos, se oli erittäin mukavaa!
Together for the future
"Scenes from a marriage": At the mountain festival for "Intermezzo"
More than 120 guests enjoyed this first exclusive preview of INTERMEZZO (premiere on 25 April 2024) - and enjoyed a lively exchange with those involved in the production - directors, costume designers and singers - and took a curious and enthusiastic look at the first excerpts from the production. The interviews with director Tobias Kratzer and set and costume designer Rainer Sellmaier, conducted by dramaturge Jörg Königsdorf, revealed the comedic power and topicality of the work's subject matter and how exciting it is musically too. Many of the guests are looking forward to the première.
Rendez Vous À Genève - A Visit to Switzerland
The Supporters' Circle of the Deutsche Oper Berlin enjoyed a very varied programme in Switzerland. After a brilliant LUSTIGEN WITWE (Franz Lehár) in a production by Barrie Kosky, the 32 supporters then attended the premiere of IDOMENEO (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) in Geneva, staged by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. On the occasion of this new production, the members met the designated artistic director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dr Aviel Cahn, who spoke with the members about initial ideas and visions for his time in Berlin. The trip to Switzerland was inspiring and eventful for everyone. See you again! Why don't you travel with us too - we look forward to seeing you!
Together for the future
A special kind of get-to-know-you concert
To kick off the 2022 / 2023 season, some of the new scholarship holders introduced themselves to the members of the Talent Circle. In keeping with this commitment of a "musical" family, the Circle met privately for music and a French aperitif. In this way, supporters and recipients got to know each other personally. The Talent Circle currently supports six scholarship holders plus, for the first time, a répétiteur who also supports the young singers as a scholarship holder. In addition, the Talent Circle has now taken over the sponsorship of 15 academy students.
Experiencing more together
The Förderkreis at Landpartie
For the start of the 2022 / 2023 season, the Friends and Patrons of the Deutsche Oper Berlin invited everyone to a tour of the most beautiful private gardens on the banks of the Havel. More than 60 members took up the invitation and enjoyed the reunion after the summer break and let Intendant Dietmar Schwarz put them in the mood for the new season - among others, Dr. Klaus von Krosigk, former Director of Horticulture at the Berlin State Monuments Office, who guided them through the gardens, Intendant Dietmar Schwarz and Dr. Kilian Jay von Seldeneck, André Schmitz and Dr. Heike Maria von Joest from the board of the Friends.
Experience more together!
"Un bel di vedremo" - The Stage Festival 2023
After a four-year break, the Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin celebrates a glittering party and raises more than €34,000 for the promotion of young talent ... "Un bel di vedremo" - this was the title of the invitation to the Stage Festival 23 in reference to Madama Butterfly's longing wait. And they met again - after a four-year break, more than 110 guests, singers and members of the Förderkreis were finally able to celebrate on the Deutsche Oper stage again following the performance of MADAMA BUTTERFLY and look optimistically to the future.
Our next funded performances
Fellow of the 2024-2025 Talent Circle
Chance Jonas-O'Toole
Tenor Chance Jonas-O'Toole joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble as a scholarship holder of the Opera Foundation New York in the 2023/24 season and will continue to do so in the 2024/25 season as a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Talent Circle. In the current season, he will appear in, among others, THE TALE OF THE MAGIC FLUTE, THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER, DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG, IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, LA FIAMMA or THE QUEEN OF SPADES.
12, 19, 27 April 2025
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Music is the central purpose in life for almost all of the characters in the piece. Service to music also determines the lives of David and Magdalena, the apprentice boys and girl, and especially that of Eva, the daughter of the rich Veit Pogner. He allows her to choose her own bridegroom – under one condition: ‘it must be a master’, the winner of a public singing contest... Conductor: Ulf Schirmer; Director: Jossi Wieler, Anna Viebrock, Sergio Morabito; With Thomas J. Mayer, Albert Pesendorfer, Philipp Jekal, Magnus Vigilius, Chance Jonas-O'Toole, Elena Tsallagova, Annika Schlicht and others
Talent Circle
Promoting young talent has been a top priority for the Förderkreis for decades
For years, its financial contributions have enabled young singers to launch their careers and help Deutsche Oper Berlin to maintain its first-class ensemble. With the newly founded Talent Circle project, the Förderkreis also wants to build up a circle of supporters who not only financially support young musical talent, but also become a circle of personal mentors. In addition to singers, the promotion of young talent will now also extend to a répétiteur position as well as instrumentalists.
Production funding
With the financial aid of the Förderkreis, ambitious productions can be realised.
The best examples of the Förderkreis's sustained commitment are outstanding opera productions such as A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by Ted Huffman, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN by Stefan Herheim, DER SCHATZGRÄBER by Christof Loy or now, for the season finale DIE MEISTERSINGER directed by Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito and Anna Viebrock. But also "perennial favourites" such as Mozart's DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, which has been successfully performed in Günter Krämer's production season after season for over 20 years, were created with the kind support of Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin e. V.
Götz Friedrich Prize
Promoting young talent is now even more important to the Förderkreis
For more than twenty years, the Götz Friedrich Prize has been one of the most important institutions for promoting outstanding talent in the field of musical theatre directing - prize-winners such as Stefan Herheim, Nadja Loschky and Sebastian Baumgarten may be mentioned here as representatives. For the 2022/23 season, the directing prize for the best production work, endowed with 5,000 euros, and a studio prize, endowed with 2,500 euros, will again be awarded. After being hosted by the German-speaking Opera Conference in previous years, the Götz Friedrich Prize now returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin, the main venue of its dedicatee. From now on, the Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin will provide organisational support for the organisation of the prize.
Opera by Rebecca Saunders – 20 [world premiere], 27 June; 1, 11, 18 July 2025
„Lash“– Acts of Love
With LASH, the acclaimed German-British composer Rebecca Saunders writes her first opera and, based on the visually powerful texts by video artist and writer Ed Atkins, creates a work about the existential fundamental experiences of the human body with which we are in the world and at the same time experience and understand it ... Conductor: Enno Poppe; Director: Dead Centre; With Anna Prohaska, Sarah Maria Sun, Noa Frenkel, Katja Kolm a. o.
Topics
Former scholarship holder, now ensemble soloist
Favourites ... with Patrick Guetti
"Solche hergelaufne Laffen" Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart´s THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO, sung by the bass-baritone and scholarship holder of the Förderkreis in the 2019/20 season Patrick Guetti, accompanied by Maxime Perrin. With the season 2020/21 Patrick Guetti changes to our ensemble.
Former scholarship holder, now ensemble soloist
Favourites ... with Flurina Stucki
Welcome to "Klänge der Heimat" from Johann Strauss' operetta DIE FLEDERMAUS - with soprano Flurina Stucki, scholarship holder of the Förderkreis in the 2018/19 season, and John Parr on piano as well as a short introduction by Jörg Königsdorf.
Former scholarship holder, now ensemble soloist
Favourites ... with Samuel Dale Johnson
Listen to ensemble soloist and baritone Samuel Dale Johnson with "Kogda bi zhizn" from Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky's EUGEN ONEGIN, accompanied by Tilman Wildt on the piano and with an introduction by dramaturg Lars Gebhardt.
