Lieutenant Pinkerton has fallen in love with the geisha Cio-Cio-San, known as Madama Butterfly, and wants to marry her according to Japanese custom without entering into a permanent relationship. But Butterfly truly loves Pinkerton and has a child by him. For years she waits in vain for the lieutenant to return. When Pinkerton does return, he arrives with his new American wife to pick up the child, and Butterfly stabs herself with a dagger.

Madama Butterfly

Bebelplatz

The one who has strayed from the right path – that is Violetta Valéry, who leads a life as a noble courtesan in Paris between splendor and misery. Everything is mere play and illusion, even love, until Alfredo Germont awakens true feelings in her. Happiness, however, is a rare visitor and only short-lived: Violetta, suffering from consumption, is first humiliated and then, after a final flicker of vitality, expires.

La traviata

Violetta Valéry is a noble courtesan in Paris who has "strayed from the path of virtue" and leads a life that oscillates between splendour and misery. For her everything is a game – even love – until Alfredo Germont awakens true feelings in her. But this rare happiness only lasts fleetingly for Violetta, who suffers from tuberculosis, and who is first publicly humiliated before passing away.

Azucena had to witness her mother being burned as a witch. In revenge, she kidnapped the younger of the two sons of the old Count di Luna, who ordered her mother’s burning, but in her delirium she threw her own son onto the flames instead of the Count’s son. Years later, the new Count di Luna, the brother of the kidnapped child, and the »Troubadour« Manrico, the supposed son of Azucena, not only fight on opposing sides in a civil war, but also encounter each other because they both love the lady-in-waiting Leonora. Nobody suspects that Manrico is actually Luna’s kidnapped brother – until Leonora sacrifices herself for her beloved and the hate-filled Luna kills his rival.

The Troubadour

If you book directly online through our partner Eventim, advance booking fees will be charged in addition to the ticket price. IMPORTANT: The seats that can be booked through Eventim are not available directly at the Berlin Cathedral!


Beethoven: 9th Symphony

Berlin Cathedral

We will be performing three concerts at Berlin Cathedral in 2025/26. We'll be performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 twice there to round off the year. The finale will be performed by the Berlin Oratorio Choir and the Chorvereinigung Spandau. Members of the International Opera Studio of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden will be guest soloists. The performance will be conducted by our Conductor Laureate Howard Griffiths.

Beethoven's Ninth

We'll bring the year to a close with Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ninth" under the direction of our Conductor Laureate Howard Griffiths. The fourth movement features the Great Chorus of the Frankfurt Singakademie, Sonja Herranen, Sandra Laagus, Johan Krogius, and Adam Kutny. All four are or were members of the International Opera Studio of the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Concert to end the year

Exhibition Hall 4

With his poetic opera The Cunning Little Vixen, Leoš Janáček brought nothing less than the eternal cycle of becoming and passing to the stage. It tells the life story of the young, rebellious vixen Bystrouška, or Sharp Ears, who is captured by the forester and starts a revolution at his homestead before she succeeds in escaping. Back in the freedom of the forest, she founds a family with a fox and is then shot by a poacher. The seemingly so civilized human world looks wistfully at wild nature, which follows its own laws of life and love.

Das schlaue Füchslein

Few operas have more to say about remaining true (to yourself) in matters of art and love than Ariadne auf Naxos: should you cling to the one you love unconditionally, or remain open to new loves?

Ariadne auf Naxos

The first premiere of the season on the State Opera stage will be Jacques Offenbach's opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann – and the Opera Children's Orchestra will also be performing this imaginative music. Excerpts from Offenbach's last work will be heard. The program will be complemented by music by other great French musical theater composers of the 19th century.

Sandra Laagus

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 30, 2025 - Apr 30, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Staatsoper Berlin

29 - 30 Dec, 2025

Beethoven's Ninth · Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt

Dec 31, 2025

Concert to end the year · Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt

Feb 28 - Mar 15, 2026

Das schlaue Füchslein · Staatsoper Berlin

17 - 23 Apr, 2026

Ariadne auf Naxos · Staatsoper Berlin

Past events

Nov 30, 2025 - Apr 30, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Staatsoper Berlin

Oct 30, 2025

La traviata · Staatsoper Berlin

Future and recently performed repertoire

Flora Bervoix in La traviata by Verdi

Staatsoper Berlin

Singer in Faust by Gounod

Staatskapelle Berlin

Singer in Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach

Staatskapelle Berlin

Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss

Staatsoper Berlin

Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly by Puccini

Staatsoper Berlin

Singer in Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven

Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt

Dackel in The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček

Staatsoper Berlin

Singer in Les contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach

Staatskapelle Berlin

Singer in Scènes hongroises by Massenet

Staatskapelle Berlin

About

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