A young woman is given a job as a governess at a country house, Bly, where she will be looking after two orphan children, Flora and Miles. She has been hired by the children’s uncle and guardian, who doesn’t want to be bothered by anything and who makes the young woman swear to absolute secrecy about the goings-on at his estate. Mysterious things do indeed start to happen at the house, including strange behaviour by the children. She also finds something inscrutable about the housekeeper Mrs Grose, who has apparently spent half her life at Bly. Later, the governess believes she sees hazy apparitions of a man and a woman gliding through the rooms of the house, and she identifies them as the spirits of former employees Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. Demonic forces appear to be running rampant and plaguing the characters. At the end, one thing is certain: one of the characters lies dead. Everything else remains unanswered …

The Turn of the Screw

Bebelplatz

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

It is one of the classics in the Staatsoper’s repertoire: August Everding’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The production is unique for its reconstruction of Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s 1816 set design for what was then the Berlin Court Opera on Unter den Linden – including the legendary starry sky for the Queen of the Night, which has become an icon of scenography and continues to enchant audiences.

Die Zauberflöte (Everding)

Modest Mussorgsky’s national folk drama centres on a grim episode of late 17th-century Russian history. Ivan Khovansky, leader of the musketeer corps (streltsy), and his son Andrei, are planning a conspiracy, but the ambitious Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the boyar Shaklovity and cleric Dosifey also get involved in the struggle for power.

Khovanshchina

Wotan wants to secure power through his descendants. The twins Siegmund and Sieglinde seem to be the perfect choice. One day, fate brings them together. However, for Wotan’s wife Fricka, the sibling’s love is a thorn in her side, and even Wotan himself feels emotionally torn. When his favourite daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, revolts against him, he puts her to sleep, casting a circle of fire around her that only a fearless person can walk through.

Die Walküre

ANNÄHERUNG AN DIE OPER MIT MUSIKALISCHEN BEITRÄGENZur Einstimmung auf die Premiere von Mussorgskys unvollendet gebliebener Oper »Chowanschtschina« sprechen die Dramaturginnen Yvonne Gebauer und Rebecca Graitl mit Boris Kehrmann über die Entstehungsgeschichte und die historischen Bezüge des Werkes. Marina Prudenskaya und Anna Samuil präsentieren musikalische Ausschnitte.

Anna Samuil

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 13, 2025 - May 24, 2026

Die Zauberflöte (Everding) · Staatsoper Berlin

Past events

10 - 21 Apr, 2026

The Turn of the Screw · Staatsoper Berlin

Feb 28 - Mar 15, 2026

Das schlaue Füchslein · Staatsoper Berlin

Future and recently performed repertoire

Three ladies in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart

Staatsoper Berlin

Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw by Britten

Staatsoper Berlin

Ortlinde in Die Walküre by Wagner

Staatsoper Berlin

Susanna in Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky

Staatsoper Berlin

Hahn in The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček

Staatsoper Berlin

About

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