Forsythe is a legendary choreographer, revered worldwide as one of the most creative innovators of the ballet tradition. Since the 1970s, he has revolutionised dance by intelligently developing academic ballet in a way that frees the human body from its predetermined corset and broadens choreographic expression in unprecedented ways. Many of William Forsythe’s virtuoso compositions have long become modern classics. In this homage, the Staatsballett will perform three groundbreaking pieces by the American choreographer. Approximate Sonata 2016 is a series of pas de deux, offering the performers the opportunity to mutually craft finely differentiated nuances within a choreographic structure whose forms are frequently difficult to sustain. The performers have a balanced agency in determining the dynamic outcome of these forms, striving to accommodate the choices the other is making in order to advance each other’s intentions. For all the hazardous torrent of dancers moving relentlessly around metal tables, One Flat Thing, reproduced (2000) is actually a purposeful chapter in ongoing research into the visual distribution of contrapuntal balletic structure. The work is set up as a linked ‹machinery› that is created through the interaction of three systems of organization: numerous individual movement themes, a dense system of distributed cueing and complex alignments of forms and/or movement flow. Although the dancer’s field of action is seriously delimited, the unyielding maze of tables also offers the unusual possibility of composing interrelated action on three levels. Blake Works I , staged for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2016, was the first work created in the classical idiom after a hiatus from ballet of more than 17 years. The work deploys a distinctly historical approach to the genre, versus the analytical approach used in a majority of the previous ballet oriented works. Blake Works I  radiates an affection for the language of ballet, and even revives several iconic fragments from works of the genre’s great practitioners that had been deeply influential during formative years. The work’s vocabulary is grounded in the French school and makes use of several of the demanding intricacies of that particular style.

William Forsythe

Deutsche Oper Berlin

According to Hugo von Hofmannsthal in a 1911 letter to Richard Strauss, in which he set out his idea for another collaboration between the two men, their next opera would be to THE MAGIC FLUTE what THE KNIGHT OF THE ROSE had been to FIGARO. And the work that premiered a full eight years later did indeed have strong echoes of Mozart’s »grand opéra«: there is the clash of different social classes, the fairytale-like, highly symbolic storyline and above all the strong feeling that ground-breaking change is underway which is challenging accepted orthodoxy and forcing issues of human interaction and values to the top of the political agenda. And in both cases enlightenment is gained only through ordeal and adversity. Here the shadow has a pivotal function as a metaphor for female fertility: the barren Empress and her nurse bargain with the dyer’s wife for her shadow. Only when the Empress rebels against achieving marital happiness and maternal contentment at someone else’s expense does a path to social harmony open up.

The Woman Without a Shadow

It’s the most performed opera in the German-speaking region, an unusual – and masterly – blend of Viennese folk theatre and fairy tale, mythology and freemasonry mystique: Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE remains a puzzle to this day. Did Mozart and his librettist Schikaneder switch horses from the Queen of the Night to Sarastro half way through? Is the message not one of distrust towards a supposedly infallible priesthood and its simplistic good-versus-evil ideology? Are some Mozart experts right when they talk of a disconnect between text and music? Whatever the answer, it’s the music that allows us to relate to the story’s contradictions. Far from denouncing the characters, it confers an existentiality on their conflicts.

The Magic Flute

Sofia Gubaidulina's ‘Fairytale Poem’ from 1971, with which the Konzerthausorchester and Joana Mallwitz begin their concert, is, according to the composer, about a little piece of chalk with big dreams of marvellous things that it wants to draw. Unfortunately, it is only used as blackboard chalk at school and is eventually thrown away. A boy finds it and begins to draw castles, gardens and sunsets on the street. The chalk is too happy to realize that it is finally disintegrating.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Joana Mallwitz

Konzerthaus Berlin

A nation is cowed by its princess. Turandot, beautiful and fascinating representative of a royal dynasty, presides over a gruesome ritual: only her marriage to a suitor will bring an end to the violence, but no would-be bridegroom has yet managed to solve the riddles. The same old spectacle plays out, ending in yet another execution, until Calaf, the son of a deposed ruler from a foreign land, unexpectedly answers the riddles correctly. He then turns the tables on Turandot, forcing her to answer his own question if she wants to steal out of her obligation. Puccini’s times are changing rapidly, the art world is going through drastic transformation and new, abstract forms are being coined to reflect modern-day experience. And the composer, in his early 60s, is again trying to break new ground.

Turandot

Classical art songs and modern poetry – lieder recital meets poetry reading in this series of events organised jointly with the Haus für Poesie Berlin. Each of the four evening events held in the foyer of the Deutsche Oper Berlin will feature a poet reading original works whose themes complement the songs on the programme.

Songs and Poets: Evening sentiment

Songs and Poets: Drink soul! Drink loneliness!

Songs and Poets: Natural Histories

Glamour, beats and sequins meet autocratic rulers, archaic rituals meet electronic sounds and old acquaintances meet new discoveries, in the good old Komische Oper tradition of daring to strike a balance between pop and experimentation, affirmation and criticism. In the third edition of Schall&Rausch, the Komische Oper Berlin brings opposites together and (un)known faces together!

Schall&Rausch

Komische Oper Berlin @Schillertheater

Runde zwei Jahrzehnte bereits besteht Preußens Hofmusik, die Kammerorchesterreihe der Staatskapelle Berlin, in deren Mittelpunkt Musik aus dem 17. und 18. Jahrhundert steht, nicht zuletzt auch Komponisten und Werke, die mit der Geschichte der Staatsoper und der Staatskapelle in besonderer Weise verbunden sind. In der Jubiläumssaison von Preußens Hofmusik rückt das Ensemble Johann Sebastian Bach ins Zentrum, der von König Friedrich II. von Preußen sehr verehrt wurde, dessen Söhne zeitweilig in Berlin aktiv waren und dessen so folgenreiche Renaissance wesentlich von Berlin ausging. Inspirierte weltliche wie geistliche Kantatenwerke Bachs erklingen, dazu bekannte Instrumentalmusik wie die staunenswerte Kunst der Fuge.

Preußens Hofmusik II

Apollosaal

On a Sunday morning before the big event of the premiere, Artistic Director Christian Spuck and Dramaturge Katja Wiegand welcome you to the premiere talk. This classic format offers unique insights into the new productions, which often only unfold in personal exchanges with the artists of the team. There is an opportunity to sense the atmosphere that characterizes the exciting days before every ballet premiere. The event will be conducted in German. English passages will be summarised in German.

Premiere Talk: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Originally from the French Basque region, Maurice Ravel had a lifelong penchant for Spanish folk music. Alongside the "Bolero" and the "Rhapsodie espagnole", his short opera L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE, premiered in 1911, is the best-known example of Ravel's sophisticated stylisation of Spanish dance rhythms - and like the "Bolero", the almost hour-long stage work about the sexually unfulfilled watchmaker's wife Concepciòn is a masterpiece of the laconic elegance typical of Ravel. The celebrated mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa can be heard in the role of Concepción, with the young French conductor Maxime Pascal conducting the one-act opera, which is paired with Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite "Scheherazade".

Symphony Concert: Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel

The perfect date for Valentine's Day with the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin: magical love dances by Manuel de Falla and the "Eroica" , the heart-wrenching 3rd Symphony by the world-changer Ludwig van Beethoven! In two ballets, de Falla distills the musical essence of the Andalusian soul: The Three-cornered Hat tells the story of a miller's wife who, together with her husband, makes fun of the governor who is in love with her.

Date

Immerse yourself in the magical world of the Blue Note record label and experience a concert that brings the soul of jazz to life. From Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Horace Silver to Wayne Shorter and current jazz masters - let yourself be enchanted by the virtuoso artists of the Deutsche Oper Berlin big band and iconic melodies. This special event celebrates the timeless classics and innovative sounds that have made Blue Note one of the most influential voices in jazz. A must for all music lovers and fans of the legendary label!

Jazz & Lyrics: Blue Note Records

Violetta Valery, living in kept splendour at the expense of Baron Douphol, has apparently recovered from a serious illness. To celebrate, she throws a party where she meets and falls for Alfredo Germont. As their love for each other is frowned upon, they set up house outside of Paris. Alfredo’s father insists that she break with his son in order not to jeopardise the marriage prospects of Alfredo’s sister. Violetta accedes to his wish and cuts off relations. In a showdown at another party Violetta tries to convince Alfredo that she’s in love with the Baron, causing Alfredo to hurl his gambling winnings at her feet, calling them “fees for services rendered”. Soon afterwards, at the height of the Paris carnival, Violetta is on her deathbed. She receives Alfredo, who has heard from his father her real reason for leaving him. Violetta forgives him, gives him her blessing and dies.

La traviata

The Dutchman is a cursed man, an outsider, a driven individual. Richard Wagner came upon the character of the famous drifter via Heinrich Heine, who lent the Romantic material his typically ironic touch. Wagner’s interest was tweaked not by Heine’s packaging of the story, which relegated the Dutchman-based action to the margins, but by the tale of the enigmatic mariner, which led to him writing his first opera about the man’s quest for a woman who could offer him redemption. The Dutchman, restlessly plying the borderlands between life and death, encounters Senta, who appears equally ill-at-ease and rootless and yearns for a masculine character, the Dutchman, a figment of her imagination.

The Flying Dutchman

North and South American rhythms – in Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" they characterize the two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. Bernstein arranged some numbers from the now famous musical as a suite, which conquered the concert stage as "symphonic dances."
Just like George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," in which jazz elements, blues and symphonic music merge together. The African-American composer Florence Price is considered a rediscovery, and her "Suite of Dance" will be heard. Darius Milhaud's dance-like cinema fantasy "The Ox on the Roof" and the rhythmic piece "Huapango" by the Mexican José Pablo Moncayo will also be heard. 

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Rhapsody & Rhythm

Berliner Philharmonie

In a pleasant atmosphere, we offer a concert format that allows babies and toddlers their space to move and offers them the opportunity for first contact with live classical music. We invite parents to observe and support their children in their perception.

Baby concert

For more than six decades, the chamber concerts by musicians from the Staatskapelle have been a constant feature of the Staatsoper programme. This season, ensembles have come together to select music from different periods, styles and cultures under the theme of ‘playing together’. On eleven dates in the Apollosaal, which with its special atmosphere is an ideal venue for chamber music and communicative interaction between players and listeners, works from the Baroque to the present day will be performed in constellations that are both exciting and harmonious, in which tangible contrasts play just as important a role as a common resonance and the balancing of opposites.

Events in Berlin next month

William Forsythe

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Woman Without a Shado...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Magic Flute

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Konzerthausorchester Berl...

Konzerthausorchester Berlin

Turandot

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Songs and Poets: Evening ...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Songs and Poets: Drink so...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Songs and Poets: Natural ...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Schall&Rausch

Komische Oper Berlin

Preußens Hofmusik II

Staatskapelle Berlin

Preußens Hofmusik II

Staatskapelle Berlin

Premiere Talk: A Midsumme...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Symphony Concert: Rimsky-...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Date

Komische Oper Berlin

Jazz & Lyrics: Blue Note ...

Deutsche Oper Berlin

La traviata

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Flying Dutchman

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Rhapsody & Rhythm

Berliner Symphoniker

Baby concert

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Kam­mer­kon­zert V

Staatskapelle Berlin

Kammerkonzert V