Staatskapelle Berlin

With a tradition of more than 450 years, Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Originally founded as a court orchestra by Prince-Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg in 1570, the ensemble found its artistic home with the founding of the Royal Court Opera Unter den Linden in 1742 by the Prussian king Frederick the Great. Ever since then, the orchestra has been housed at the opera house at the heart of Berlin. Many important musicians have conducted the operas as well as the regular concerts, which have been held since 1842. Conductors such as Gaspare Spontini, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Felix von Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Erich Kleiber, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Franz Konwitschny, and Otmar Suitner shaped the ensemble and its unique sound.

Daniel Barenboim was the orchestra’s general music director for more than thirty years, from 1992 until 2023. During this time, numerous guest appearances all across Europe, Israel, the Far East, Australia, as well as in North and South America, established the outstanding status of Staatskapelle Berlin. The performance of all of Beethoven’s symphonies and piano concertos in Vienna, Paris, London, New York and Tokyo, the ten-part cycle of all of Wagner’s important operas during the Staatsoper’s Festtage in 2002 were some of the most outstanding events, as well as performances of Wagner’s Ring cycle in Tokyo and at the London Proms. In addition, Staatskapelle Berlin performed large symphonic cycles (including Schumann, Brahms, Brucker, and Mahler) at music centers around the world, as well as works of high modernism and contemporary music. In 2024, Daniel Barenboim was awarded the title honorary principal conductor in recognition of his artistic achievements, joining the company of honorary conductors named during the past decades: Otmar Suitner, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and most recently Simon Rattle.

Numerous CD and DVD releases document the ensemble’s outstanding artistic excellence. Since 1990, these include recordings of all the symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, and Schumann, the piano concertos of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms, and key works by Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Elgar, and Debussy. Studio productions were also recorded of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Strauss’ Elektra, all under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, as well as live performances of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Parsifal and Tristan, Verdi’s Il trovatore and Falstaff, Berg’s Lulu, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Czar’s Bride, Schumann’s  Szenen aus Goethes Faust, Prokofiev’s The Gambler, and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (with Daniel Barenboim), Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (with Gustavo Dudamel), Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier (with Zubin Mehta), Janáček’s Jenůfa (with Simon Rattle) as well as Wagner’s Ring (with Christian Thielemann). A CD edition was released to mark the 450th anniversary of the ensemble’s founding in 2020; in addition, this anniversary was celebrated with a book publication and an exhibition.  

Staatskapelle Berlin’s relationship with Christian Thielemann began in 2022, with a symphony concert and new production of Wagner’s Ring – in both cases, the conductor had to take over at the very last minute. After a successful Asia tour with symphonies by Brahms and Bruckner, Thielemann was named general music director in 2023, and took his new position at the start of the 2024/25 season. During the first two seasons, he conducted numerous operas and concert performances, including Strauss’s Die schweigsame Frau (winner of the Oper! award in 2025) and Der Rosenkavalier, Berg’s Wozzeck and once again Wagner’s Ring, as well as orchestral pieces and songs by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Bruckner, and Strauss, Brahmsʼ A German Requiem and programs with music from operettas, film, and radio. After touring in Hamburg, Munich, and Vienna during the 2025/26 season, in the 2026/27 season, Staatskapelle Berlin and Christian Thielemann will be performing Straussʼ Der Rosenkavalier in Shanghai and a concert series that takes them to China, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as to Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, and Vienna’s Musikverein. In the series of symphony concerts held in Berlin, the Staatskapelle will be performing works by composers such as Mendelssohn, Liszt and Strauss, and as part of the Festtage 2027 Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as part of the bicentennial of the composer’s death. At the opera house Unter den Linden with Christian Thielemann at the podium, the Staatskapelle will be performing a new production of Humperdinck’s Königskinder as well as Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Tannhäuser.

www.staatskapelle-berlin.de

Upcoming events with Staatskapelle Berlin

October

  • Family Performance

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini
Duration: approx. 2:50 hrs including one interval after act one

Cast

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini
Duration: approx. 2:50 hrs including one interval after act one

Cast

  • Family Performance

Tosca

Giacomo Puccini
Duration: approx. 2:30 hrs including one intervals after act one

Cast

November

  • Family Performance

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:00 hrs including one interval after act one

Cast

December

  • Family Performance

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert III

Marie Jacquot, Antoine Tamestit
Duration: approx. 1:50 hrs including one interval

Modest Mussorgsky

Eine Nacht auf dem kahlen Berge

Béla Bartók

Viola concert

Modest Mussorgsky

Bilder einer Ausstellung
(Orchestration: Maurice Ravel)

  • Family Performance

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert III

Marie Jacquot, Antoine Tamestit
Duration: approx. 1:50 hrs including one interval

Modest Mussorgsky

Eine Nacht auf dem kahlen Berge

Béla Bartók

Viola concert

Modest Mussorgsky

Bilder einer Ausstellung
(Orchestration: Maurice Ravel)

Konzert zum Jahreswechsel

Christian Thielemann, Vida Miknevičiūtė
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Max Steiner

Symphonic Suite from the Hollywood movie Gone with the Wind 1939

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Symphonic Suite from the Hollywood movie The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938

Gottfried Huppertz

Symphonic Suite from the UFA movie Metropolis, 1927

January 2027

Konzert zum Jahreswechsel

Christian Thielemann, Vida Miknevičiūtė
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Max Steiner

Symphonic Suite from the Hollywood movie Gone with the Wind 1939

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Symphonic Suite from the Hollywood movie The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938

Gottfried Huppertz

Symphonic Suite from the UFA movie Metropolis, 1927

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:00 hrs including one interval after act one

Cast

  • Family Performance

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert IV

Christian Thielemann, María Dueñas
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt op. 27

Concert for Violin and string orchestra d-Moll

Ouverture to Ein Sommernachtstraum op. 21

Symphony No. 5 d-Moll op. 107 Reformations-Symphonie

  • Family Performance

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert IV

Christian Thielemann, María Dueñas
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt op. 27

Concert for Violin and string orchestra d-Moll

Ouverture to Ein Sommernachtstraum op. 21

Symphony No. 5 d-Moll op. 107 Reformations-Symphonie

  • Kinderoper

Die Fledermaus für Kinder

Cast

Konzert im Pierre Boulez Saal II

Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony No. 29 A major KV 201

Arnold Schönberg

Kammersymphonie No. 2 op. 38

Franz Schreker

Intermezzo for Strings

Joseph Haydn

Symphony No. 92 G major Oxford

Cast

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:10 hrs including one interval

Cast

February 2027

  • Family Performance

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:10 hrs including one interval

Cast

  • For the last time this season

Tosca

Giacomo Puccini
Duration: approx. 2:30 hrs including one intervals after act one

Cast

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:10 hrs including one interval

Cast

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:10 hrs including one interval

Cast

  • For the last time this season

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:10 hrs including one interval

Cast

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert V

Petr Popelka, Kian Soltani
Duration: approx. 2:10 hrs including one interval

Sergej Prokofjew

Sinfonia concertante for Violoncello and Orchestra op. 125

Peter Tschaikowsky

Francesca da Rimini op. 32

Igor Strawinsky

L’oiseau de feu (Suite 1919)

Cast

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert V

Petr Popelka, Kian Soltani
Duration: approx. 2:10 hrs including one interval

Sergej Prokofjew

Sinfonia concertante for Violoncello and Orchestra op. 125

Peter Tschaikowsky

Francesca da Rimini op. 32

Igor Strawinsky

L’oiseau de feu (Suite 1919)

Cast

March 2027

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Jacques Offenbach
Duration: approx. 3:30 hrs including two intervals after act two and three

Cast

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Jacques Offenbach
Duration: approx. 3:30 hrs including two intervals after act two and three

Cast

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Jacques Offenbach
Duration: approx. 3:30 hrs including two intervals after act two and three

Cast

  • Family Performance,
  • For the last time this season

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Jacques Offenbach
Duration: approx. 3:30 hrs including two intervals after act two and three

Cast

  • Festtage 2027,
  • For the last time this season

Tannhäuser

Richard Wagner
Duration: approx. 4:25 hrs including two intervals after act one and two

Cast

  • Festtage 2027

Festtage-Konzert Staatskapelle Berlin

Christian Thielemann, Julia Kleiter, Patricia Nolz, Klaus Florian Vogt, René Pape
Duration: approx. 1:15 hrs without an interval

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphonie No. 9 d-Moll op. 125

April 2027

Ariadne auf Naxos

Richard Strauss
Duration: approx. 2:40 hrs including one interval after act 1

Cast

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert VI

Christian Thielemann, Camilla Nylund, Piotr Beczała
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Franz Liszt

Festklänge (Symphonic poem No. 7)

Richard Strauss

Orchesterlieder

Franz Liszt

Les Préludes (Symphonic poem No. 3)

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert VI

Christian Thielemann, Camilla Nylund, Piotr Beczała
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Franz Liszt

Festklänge (Symphonic poem No. 7)

Richard Strauss

Orchesterlieder

Franz Liszt

Les Préludes (Symphonic poem No. 3)

Ariadne auf Naxos

Richard Strauss
Duration: approx. 2:40 hrs including one interval after act 1

Cast

Ariadne auf Naxos

Richard Strauss
Duration: approx. 2:40 hrs including one interval after act 1

Cast

  • Family Performance,
  • For the last time this season

Ariadne auf Naxos

Richard Strauss
Duration: approx. 2:40 hrs including one interval after act 1

Cast

May 2027

  • Premiere

Königskinder

Engelbert Humperdinck

Cast

  • For the last time this season

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi
Duration: approx. 2:40 hrs including one interval after act one

Cast

  • Family Performance

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Duration: approx. 3:00 hrs including one interval after act one

Cast

  • For the last time this season

Königskinder

Engelbert Humperdinck

Cast

  • Premiere

La forza del destino

Giuseppe Verdi

Cast

  • Family Performance

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert VII

Philippe Jordan, Sol Gabetta
Duration: approx. 2:10 hrs including one interval

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakow

Capriccio espagnol op. 34

Edouard Lalo

Violoncello concert d-Moll

Maurice Ravel

Rapsodie espagnole
Alborada del gracioso
Boléro

Cast

La forza del destino

Giuseppe Verdi

Cast

La forza del destino

Giuseppe Verdi

Cast

  • Family Performance

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert VII

Philippe Jordan, Sol Gabetta
Duration: approx. 2:10 hrs including one interval

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakow

Capriccio espagnol op. 34

Edouard Lalo

Violoncello concert d-Moll

Maurice Ravel

Rapsodie espagnole
Alborada del gracioso
Boléro

Cast

June 2027

La forza del destino

Giuseppe Verdi

Cast

  • For the last time this season

La forza del destino

Giuseppe Verdi

Cast

Die Zarenbraut

Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow
Duration: approx. 3 hrs including one interval after act two

Cast

Die Zarenbraut

Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow
Duration: approx. 3 hrs including one interval after act two

Cast

  • Family Performance

Die Zarenbraut

Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow
Duration: approx. 3 hrs including one interval after act two

Cast

  • For the last time this season

Die Zarenbraut

Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow
Duration: approx. 3 hrs including one interval after act two

Cast

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert VIII

Jakub Hrůša, Christian Gerhaher
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ouvertüre Leonore III op. 72b

Antonín Dvořák

Ouverture Othello op. 93

Gustav Mahler

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Leoš Janáček

Sinfonietta

Sym­pho­nie­kon­zert VIII

Jakub Hrůša, Christian Gerhaher
Duration: approx. 2 hrs including one interval

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ouvertüre Leonore III op. 72b

Antonín Dvořák

Ouverture Othello op. 93

Gustav Mahler

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Leoš Janáček

Sinfonietta

  • Kinderoper,
  • For the last time this season

Die Fledermaus für Kinder

Cast

July 2027