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Saisonüberblick 2023/24 - Deutsche Oper Berlin

Welcome

Dear Opera Lovers,

Were you to ask me what gives me joy as artistic director, my answer would perhaps not sound very inventive: like all the people working in this opera house on and behind the stage, I long for modern, powerful performances for an enthusiastic audience comprising all generations and social strata. After all, it’s not only important for us to produce good art, but also to ensure that this art reaches as many as possible. We want everyone to feel invited, and this makes us continuously question the manner we make contact with you: because many – not only younger – people get their information via social media today, we keep expanding our activities in this area. This year's preview also responds to the fact that many of you are now deciding to buy tickets at shorter notice: here, you will find everything that is important this season – further and more detailed information can then be found in our monthly magazine «Libretto”, but also in our newsletters and on our website.
Dear Opera Lovers,
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All music theatre productions at a glance

Repertoire overview 23/24

Scroll and click through our six premieres in the big house, the world premieres and performances in the Tischlerei, and our 35 repertory productions from A for AIDA, ANNA BOLENA and ANTIKRIST to TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, TURANDOT, WRITTEN ON SKIN or ZEROTH LAW. In the course of the season we present staged realisations of works by Adam, Bach, Battistelli, Beethoven, Benjamin, Bizet, Donizetti, Humperdinck, Langgaard, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Mozart, Puccini, Rossini, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and all the ten Bayreuth works by Richard Wagner.
Repertoire overview
Auf dem Bild ist eine Impression aus Langgaards ANTIKRIST.

What can the opera achieve?

In their opera WRITTEN ON SKIN, composer George Benjamin and his librettist Martin Crimp leap boldly through time. From a present that is both mundane and downright provocative, three angels conjure up a gruesome history that took place around 800 years ago. As timeless creatures, the angels slip into the story’s characters, which in turn gives rise once again to an artful game of an intrinsic narrative. This superimposition of time domains is the most recent example of how operas can repeatedly embrace the ideas of any era and turn them into something that is both new and independent. This is similar to what happens in Polish Nobel prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s novel »House of Day, House of Night«, in which the narrative cuts back from the setting of a Silesian village in the nineties to the story of a medieval saint. Reality and imagination thus seem to merge with each other throughout the story. The works of Tokarczuk and Benjamin/Crimp bring out the archaic and the immutable, while detaching the same from fashions and passing fads.
What can the opera achieve?
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Premiere on 30 September 2023

Il trittico

For his cycle IL TRITTICO, which premiered in 1918, Giacomo Puccini composed three scores that once again bundle what Italian opera could be in those years. His triptych lives from contrasts and reflections between the pieces and ultimately revolves around a single motif: death as the central point of reference in life ... Conductor: John Fiore / Giulio Cilona; Production: Pınar Karabulut; With Misha Kiria, Jonathan Tetelman / Mikhail Pirogov, Carmen Giannattasio, Mané Galoyan / Maria Motolygina, Violeta Urmana / Lauren Decker, Andrei Danilov, Lilit Davtyan a. o.
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Auf dem Bild ein Mann inmitten eines Bällebades, illustrierend die Frage: Warum suchst du das Glück?
Premiere on 15 December 2023

Anna Bolena

Donizetti tells the tragic fate of Henry VIII's unhappy second wife, who ends up under the executioner's axe, with unadorned clarity. And especially in the drawing of the title character, he succeeds in placing virtuoso vocal technique entirely at the service of highly romantic emotional expression ... Conductor: Enrique Mazzola / Daniele Squeo (March); Production: David Alden; With Riccardo Fassi, Federica Lombardi, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya / Jana Kurucová, Padraic Rowan, René Barbera / Xabier Anduaga, Karis Tucker / Arianna Manganello a. o.
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Auf dem Bild ein Mann in einem Gewirr aus Treppenaufgängen und Treppenabgängen, illustrierend die Frage: Welcher Aufstieg führt zu Abstieg? Das Motiv begleitet die Kampagne zu ANNA BOLENA.
Premiere on 27 January 2024

Written on Skin

Based on a text from medieval sources, author Martin Crimp, composer George Benjamin and director Katie Mitchell succeeded with WRITTEN ON SKIN 2012 in creating a sensational parable about identity, love and the power of literature and art ... Conductor: Marc Albrecht / Felix Mildenberger [15. Feb.]; Director: Katie Mitchell; With Mark Stone, Georgia Jarman, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Irene Roberts, Chance Jonas-O'Toole a. o.
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Auf dem Bild eine Frau in einem Tattoostudio mit einer großen Tür und einem Spiegel, illustrierend die Frage: Schwörst du mir ewigen Schmerz. Das Motiv begleitet die Kampagne zu WRITTEN ON SKIN.
Premiere on 9 March 2024

Pikowaja Dama - Pique Dame

Tchaikovsky's second most popular opera today, after EUGEN ONEGIN, inspires above all through its sheer size: in PIQUE DAME the mood skilfully changes from large, representative choral and ensemble opera to psychological chamber play scenes. The glamour of a sophisticated elite meets the misery of the proletariat ... Conductor: Sebastian Weigle; Director: Sam Brown; With Martin Muehle, Sondra Radvanovsky, Doris Soffel / N. N., Lucio Gallo, Thomas Lehman / Dean Murphy, Karis Tucker a. o.
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Auf dem Bild ein junger Mann in einem Spielsalon, illustrierend die Frage: Woher kommt die Zuversicht? Das Motiv begleitet die Kampagne zu PIQUE DAME.
Premiere on 25 April 2024

Intermezzo

New opera material for a new time - this was not only sought by the avant-gardists in the 1920s. Old master Richard Strauss went even further and brought not only a story from the modern world, but also, barely veiled, his own married life to the stage ... Conductor: Sir Donald Runnicles / Dominic Limburg; Production: Tobias Kratzer; With Philipp Jekal, Maria Bengtsson / Flurina Stucki, Thomas Blondelle a. o.
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Auf dem Bild eine junge Frau in einer Hotellounge, illustrierend die Frage: Was ist Ihre liebste Lüge? Das Motiv begleitet die Kampagne zu INTERMEZZO.
Premiere on 22 June 2024

Nixon in China

Two of the most powerful men in the world shake hands - and the world observes: With their opera about the state visit of American President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-tung in 1972, composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman brought contemporary history to the stage ... Conductor: Daniel Carter; Production: Hauen und Stechen; With Kyle Miller, Thomas Lehman, Thomas Lehman, Ya-Chung Huang, Heidi Stober, Hye-Young Moon a. o.
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Auf dem Foto ein Mann in einem Greenroom, illustrierend die Frage: Wer macht die Wirklichkeit? Das Motiv begleitet die Kampagne zu NIXON IN CHINA.
To the video archive Skip video container

Our video recommendations

Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold, on 11, 21, 28 May 2024
video - 03:06 min.

Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold, on 11, 21 ...

Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold, on 11, 21, 28 May 2024
Richard Wagner: Die Walküre, on 12, 22, 29 May 2024
video - 02:56 min.

Richard Wagner: Die Walküre, on 12, 22 ...

Richard Wagner: Die Walküre, on 12, 22, 29 May 2024
Richard Wagner: Siegfried, on 18, 24, 31 May 2024
video - 02:30 min.

Richard Wagner: Siegfried, on 18, 24, 31 ...

Richard Wagner: Siegfried, on 18, 24, 31 May 2024
Richard Wagner: Götterdämmerung, on 20, 26 May; 2 June 2024
video - 02:59 min.

Richard Wagner: Götterdämmerung, on 20 ...

Richard Wagner: Götterdämmerung, on 20, 26 May; 2 June 2024

Topics

IL TRITTICO - from 30 September 2023

The Pink Power for Puccini

Do you remember? In GREEK, Pınar Karabulut sent blue centaurs across our parking deck. Now the director is staging her first opera on the main stage with Puccini's IL TRITTICO. It will be colourful: a chapel will look like Berghain, the Seine is a pool of water, nuns will not wear black and white but look futuristic, "it will be a bit crazy," says Pınar Karabulut and laughs.
Read in our blog
Il trittico
Auf dem Foto: Die Regisseurin Pinar Karabulut in knallpinkem Parka und mit herausforderndem Blick.
The Ten Canonical Operas

The Bayreuth Wagner

With DER FLIEGENDEN HOLLÄNDER, first performed in 1841, Richard Wagner found his own unmistakable musical language and with this opera begins the canon of ten works performed at the Bayreuth Festival. The Deutsche Oper Berlin is presenting the entire Bayreuth Wagner this season: DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER, TANNHÄUSER, LOHENGRIN, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG and PARSIFAL (in the photo).
All about
2. Aufzug, Klingsors Zaubergarten: Ein verfallener Tempel mit einem im Feuerschein prangenden Eingang. Von links kommt Parsifal mit einem Schwert in der Hand. Rechts gegenüber steht Klingsor. Im Tal zwischen beiden sind Klingsors Blumenmädchen, noch in grauen Mänteln verhüllt. Die Szenerie ist in blaues Licht gehüllt. Im Hintergrund steigt Nebel auf.
ANNA BOLENA - from 15 December 2023

Die Hard, Anna

Since Shakespeare, the English crown has been the epitome of all royalty, and no monarchy has been the subject of so many stories of blood and passion, perfidy, lust for power and renunciation. Probably no composer brought the power of fascination of the "Royals" to the opera stage more effectively than Gaetano Donizetti. Enrique Mazzola and David Alden stage ANNA BOLENA, Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece. A conversation about violence, powerlessness and probably the longest final aria in the opera world.
Read in our blog
Anna Bolena
Auf dem Bild eine Szene aus David Aldens ANNA BOLENA, auf dem Königsthron sitzt der Tod.
WRITTEN ON SKIN – from 27 January 2024

A momentous affair

It was the second collaboration between Crimp and Benjamin and only the composer's second opera. WRITTEN ON SKIN became a worldwide success from a standing start. Now the celebrated production is coming to Berlin. Based on a text from medieval sources, author Martin Crimp, composer George Benjamin and director Katie Mitchell succeeded with WRITTEN ON SKIN 2012 in creating a sensational parable about identity, love and the power of literature and art.
Read in our blog
Written on Skin
Auf dem Bild eine Probensituation: Oben auf der Bühne die Darsteller*innen, im vorderen Bildbereich ein Flügel mit zwei Korrepetitoren und dem Dirigent der Probe.
PIQUE DAME - 9 March 2024

In the spirit of friendship

Sam Brown hesitated when the request reached him to take over Graham Vick's production of Tchaikovsky's PIQUE DAME, the last production Vick worked on. The premiere was supposed to have taken place in spring 2020, but then the pandemic hit and everything was postponed. Finally, Vick himself fell ill with covid - and tragically died. This was to be his fifth production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The British Sam Brown is now bringing his friend's work to a conclusion.
Read in our blog
Pique Dame
Auf dem Bild ein Porträt des Regisseurs Sam Brown
INTERMEZZO - from 25 April 2024

Maria Bengtsson – My private place of peace

"My favourite place is Café Wildau on Lake Werbellin. We've always been drawn here, mostly in summer for swimming and sailing, but also in winter for long walks along the shore. I find something here that I also find by the sea: space and tranquillity." Maria Bengtsson invites you to take a walk along Lake Werbellin in our blog, in INTERMEZZO she plays the role of the artist's wife Christine.
Read in our blog
Intermezzo
Sopranistin Maria Bengtsson am winterlichen Werbelliner See. Sie trägt einen grauen Wintermantel und steht nahe am Ufer. Hinter ihr Schilf.
INTERMEZZO - from 25 April 2024

The private domain is musical

With INTERMEZZO, Strauss brought the lowlands of bourgeois marriage onto the opera stage for the first time. Philosopher Robert Pfaller takes this as an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between public and private in art.
Read in our blog
Intermezzo
Auf dem Bild eine zeitgenössische Fotografie des Komponisten Richard Strauss
NIXON IN CHINA - from 22 June 2024

Who’s conducting whom here?

Two of the most powerful men in the world shake hands - and the world watches: with their opera about the state visit of American President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-tung in 1972, composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman brought contemporary history to the stage. 36 years after its premiere, the opera is being seen in Berlin for the first time - and it seems more topical than ever.
Read in our blog
Nixon in China
Auf dem Bild der Komponist John Adams, dirigierend
NIXON IN CHINA - from 22 June 2024

His big occasion

Whoever creates the images dictates the opinion. Richard Nixon's state visit to communist China was a major event that changed political reporting. Instead of politics, there were petitessen. Instead of treaties: Photo ops. The constant fire of staging is still in use today.
Read in our blog
Nixon in China
Richard Nixon, US- Außenminister William Rogers und der stellvertretende chinesische Ministerpräsident Li Xiannian auf der Chinesischen Mauer während des legendär gewordenen ersten Besuchs des US-Präsidenten in China

Departing into the open

Between pop and avant-garde, independent scene and institution: since 2012, the Tischlerei has been the place for new formats and shows what music theatre can be today. Whether political, participatory, documentary or glamorous - something new is guaranteed to take place here. Let us surprise you!
To the Tischlerei schedule
Auf dem Bild eine Ansicht der Tischlerei
ZEROTH LAW – from 27 September 2023

Ghosts in the machine

How do we ensure that an artificial intelligence subordinates itself to us humans? In 1942, Isaac Asimov thought about the coexistence of robots and humans. If, in a distant future, machines existed that could find solutions on their own, they would also be able to turn against us. He formulated three laws that restrict the actions of robots for the protection of humans and placed the zeroth law first and foremost: robots must place the good of humanity above that of the individual. In Gamut Inc's ZEROTH LAW, human voices meet machine music as a robot orchestra joins the RIAS Kammerchor live on stage.
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Zeroth Law
Auf dem Foto Gamut Inc, bestehend aus Marion Wörle und Maciej Śledziecki. Sie stehen auf einem turmartigen Gerüst, eine Tuba neben ihnen, grell rot und blau angestrahlt.
World premiere on 17 February 2024

Beta

Technical innovations have long since permeated all areas of life. The world premiere BETA illuminates the potential of digital tools, but also the risks posed by non-transparent data sets and the monetisation of private user data. In her composition, Dariya Maminova artfully interweaves genres, mixes live sound with complex electronics and repeatedly plays with the boundaries of our perception of analogue and digitally produced music.
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Dieses Foto zeigt eine erste Impression aus BETA. Das Avatar der KI Lou mit Platinen über dem Gesicht und grünen Buchstaben über grünen Kontaktlinsen.
BETA – from 17 February 2024

Who will watch the watchmen?

Author and director Christiane Mudra transposes long-term research to the stage in an exciting evening of musical theatre. BETA, a work produced jointly with composer Dariya Maminova, explores the power of technological giants.
Read in our blog
Beta
Christiane Mudra steht, gekleidet in schwarzen Parka und schwarze Stiefel, auf einer Treppe, auf deren Stufen ein Graffiti ist mit weit geöffneten Augen in rot und blau.
World premiere on 27 September 2023

Zeroth Law

The question of a possible coexistence of man and machine is at the centre of the robot trilogy by the retro-futuristic duo Gamut Inc. After OVER THE EDGE CLUB and ROSSUMS UNIVERSAL ROBOTS, they now transform the Tischlerei into a hybrid soundscape with the third part ZEROTH LAW together with the RIAS Chamber Choir and the music machines of the legendary robot orchestra founded by Godfried-Willem Raes at the Stichting Logos in Ghent.
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Der Aufbau der Musikautomaten in der Tischlerei