2022/23

27 June 2023 | General Assembly

We were very pleased about your numerous attendances and the constructive exchange at our general assembly this year. This time, board elections were also on the agenda. Our long-time chairman Ulrich Maas has resigned from his position to have more time for family and private matters. We thank him sincerely for 16 successful years and are pleased that he will remain connected to the association as a member of the board of trustees. We now warmly welcome Christian Alexander Rast (Chairman) and Martina Palte (Treasurer), are very much looking forward to working with them and wish them both much pleasure in carrying out their work for the association and thus also for the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

9 June 2023 | Berliner Zukunftssalon

Following Barack Obama’s motto: »I’m absolutely confident, that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything« we talked with guests from the fields of politics, start-ups, investment, opera and our association about how women from the fields of culture and business can mutually learn from another and how both industries can benefit from each other. A fabulously exciting discussion that we would like to continue. The event was musically enriched by mezzo-soprano Natalia Skrycka accompanied by Lorenzo di Toro on the grand piano.

18-21 May 2023 | International Opera Weekend in Berlin

During the long Ascension weekend, we invited our APOLLOS as well as young opera fans from all over Europe to the International Opera Weekend in Berlin. Thanks to our cooperation with JUVENILIA, the European network of young opera lovers, almost 60 people followed this invitation. This year’s program included a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as well as performances of »Rigoletto«, »La Traviata« and »Der fliegende Holländer«. The extensive musical program was supplemented by visits to the Neue Nationalgalerie and the multimedia exhibition DARK MATTER. We ended the evenings in various bars and restaurants and in some even turned night into day.

7 April 2023 | »The RING in the Light of German Criminal Law« with the Comedian Violists

Together with our members, visitors of the FESTTAGE, the »Staatsstreicher« and Stephan Rügamer with Anke Schüler, we took a musical satirical look at Wagner’s work. In an honest reappraisal of the »Ring«, the fictional author and Gifhorn magistrate Ernst von Pidde gives each character in the tetralogy the punishment they deserve for their misdeeds. Whether murder or manslaughter, kidnapping or theft, arson or cruelty to animals: Wagner’s gods, heroes and giants do not miss a single outrage. The »Staatsstreicher« have joined forces as a viola quartet to provide a sometimes humorous commentary on their instrument and the regular repertoire of »their« Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Thus, they accompany Pidde’s text with music from the »Ring«, »Der fliegende Holländer«, »Lohengrin«, »Parsifal« but also »Der Rosenkavalier« and »Don Giovanni«. As always, a delight! We will repeat this enjoyable event at the FESTTAGE 2024.

4 April 2023 | English introduction to the RING with Christoph Lang

We thank dramaturge Christoph Lang for giving an introduction to Dmitri Tcherniakov’s »Ring« concept for the American Friends of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and other English-speaking guests.

3 April 2023 | »The Funniest You Are Among the Wise« with Elias Corrinth

The solo répétiteur and Wagnerian connoisseur Elias Corrinth offered our members and visitors of the »Ring« a musical introduction to the »Ring des Nibelungen«. Where is the musical and textual core of the cycle? Why are the textual retrospectives and repetitions in the »Ring« even indispensable from a musical point of view? Why is the quarrel of the queens in front of the cathedral missing in the »Götterdämmerung«? How does the music of »Siegfried« sound before and after the Tristan intermission? What is the musical connection between Brünnhilde and Fafner? What is the only leitmotif that does not appear in »Götterdämmerung«? We learned all this and much more thanks to the wonderful Elias Corrinth who narrated, sang and played for almost two hours. We are very excited to be able to offer this event again, albeit with new accents, on the occasion of the revival of the »Ring des Nibelungen« in March 2024. Information can be found here.

17 February 2023 | »ZwischenTöne« with Elīna Garanča

On the occasion of the performances of »Samson et Dalila« we had the great pleasure to talk to Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča. In the ballet hall, the singer, who comes from a musical family, told us about her beginnings in Latvia, her experience with her mother as a singing teacher, her German debut at the Staatstheater Meiningen, and we spoke about the development of her fabulous career as one of the most sought-after and charismatic artists of our time. She would now gradually say goodbye to many roles. »In performing roles, I have told everything there was to tell« said Elīna Garanča. However, she is very much looking forward to opening up new roles such as Amneris in »Aida«, which can be seen at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden from October 3, 2023, Kundry in »Parsifal« or Judith in »Herzog Blaubarts Burg«. With great passion, the singer dedicates herself to the development of young singing talents and also sees her future there. »As a singer, I too have a half-life« she said. Now we hope that this is far from being reached!

3 February 2023 | Berliner Zukunftssalon

Thanks to the climate policy commitment of our member Jochen Wermuth, we were able to invite selected groups of members to the first Berliner Zukunftssalon in Berlin Mitte. Themed »Berlin 2030: digital, efficient, climate neutral, fair and competitive«, current socio-political topics were discussed by and with Senator Bettina Jarasch, among others. Musical highlights were presented by a quintet of the Orchestra Academy at the Staatskapelle Berlin. We thank Jochen Wermuth for the invitation and look forward to further events in the series.

January/February 2023 | Production attendance »Daphne« as part of »Opera Unlimited«

As part of »Opera Unlimted«, our Young Friends and young interested people under the age of 30 are given deep insights into individual productions. In the 2022/23 season, we accompanied, among other things, the new production of Strauss’ »Daphne« directed by Romeo Castellucci. During the piano rehearsal we attended, the director was still experimenting, singers suddenly appeared from the other side of the stage, requisites were moved and placed differently, fundamental decisions were made. In a later rehearsal with the orchestra, partly in costume, the details were worked out: the contact of the singers to the conductor must be guaranteed throughout, which required changes in the scenery here and there, the dynamics were polished – it was now a matter of the interplay of staging and music. After the rehearsal, Thomas Guggeis was available for a short Q&A. He was in charge of the musical direction and patiently answered all questions of all participants in great detail. We also offered a visit to the dress rehearsal a few days before the premiere. We would like to thank everyone who made the rehearsal visits possible and Thomas Guggeis for his time following a very intense evening rehearsal.

22 November 2022 | »ZwischenTöne« with Sarah Aristidou

In the Old Orchestra Rehearsal Hall, charmingly lit and atmospheric, we were pleased to welcome Sarah Aristidou for a conversation in our »ZwischenTöne« series. In conversation with chief dramaturge Detlef Giese, the soprano with Cypriot-French roots provided deep insights into her path from the International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden to the great stages of Europe. At the time of the event, Sarah Aristidou was in the intensive rehearsal phase for Mozart’s »Mitridate, Re di Ponto«, introducing the guests to the directorial concept and raving about the “humanistic, loving production” directed by Satoshi Miyagi. Her early dream was to sing Tosca or Carmen, but she developed into an excellent coloratura soprano. Aristidou discovered her penchant for new music during her time at the opera studio. With ÆTHER she released her first CD in 2021, a project she realized entirely on her own and always with a focus on sustainability, also with the financial help of the Friends & Supporters. On the concept album she plays with styles, times and composers. One can find collaborations with Thomas Guggeis, Daniel Barenboim and the Orchester des Wandels on it. In the same year she released her first EP S'AGAPO, combining Cypriot folk songs with electronic music. She didn’t let our guests leave into the evening without a taste of her skills and presented a very moving a cappella folk song. We thank Sarah Aristidou and Detlef Giese for their time and openness.

16 October 2022 | Open Sunday in aid of the Staatsoper at Dussmann – Das KulturKaufhaus

A colourful program at three locations in the KulturKaufhaus accompanied countless people as they shopped on this open Sunday. On the Kulturbühne in the basement, the singers of the International Opera Studio presented themselves in conversation and with songs. Musicians from the Orchestra Academy also performed chamber music. The wind quintet of the Orchestra Academy and the oboe trio of the Staatskapelle Berlin played from the bridge in the atrium. The sound of numerous voices from the children’s and Apollo choirs also filled the department store. In the children’s section, members of the Staatskapelle Berlin presented their instruments to curious children and interested parents. A wheel of fortune raffle, a game and a handicraft activity of the in-house KulturManufaktur completed the offer. We would like to thank all customers whose purchases supported the 25th anniversary of the Orchestra Academy, to which the day’s proceeds will go.

14 October 2022 | »ZwischenTöne« with Rolando Villazón

On the occasion of the RING cycles in October and November this year, we were able to win Rolando Villazón for an artist talk in our series »ZwischenTöne«. He talked about his collaboration with Dmitri Tcherniakov, who restaged Wagner’s RING for the Staatsoper in 2022, about the development of his role as Loge, among others together with Graham Clark and Stephan Rügamer, as well as his work as director, artistic director and author. We thank our corporate member M. M. Warburg & Co for inviting us to its premises.

4 September 2022 | Opening Celebration for the 2022/23 Season

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden started the 2022/23 season with a musically colourful opening celebration. The Staatskapelle Berlin, ensemble members, the Orchestra Academy, the International Opera Studio as well as the horn group of the Opera Children’s Orchestra, the choirs of the Staatsoper and the Staatsballett Berlin presented their skills in the Great Hall and in the courtyard of the Intendanzgebäude. There was also a costume exhibition in the Apollosaal and regular tours of the opera house and rehearsal center. We took the opportunity to get together with our Young Friends, the APOLLOS to toast the new season with a small wine reception, among other things.