The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals.
Barrie Kosky is an Australian theatre and opera director.
Sebastian Weigle is a German conductor and horn player. He is currently Generalmusikdirektor of the Oper Frankfurt and principal conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.
Tatjana Gürbaca is a German opera director.
Michael Simon is a German theatre director, opera director and scenic designer.
Claudia Mahnke is a German operatic mezzo-soprano, a member of the Oper Frankfurt, with guest appearances at leading opera houses and the Bayreuth Festival.
Marco Arturo Marelli is a Swiss set designer and stage director who has worked at European opera houses for opera and ballet. He designed sets for ballets by John Neumeier, and for premieres of the operas Thomas Chatterton by Matthias Pintscher at the Semperoper in Dresden (1998) and Medea by Aribert Reimann at the Vienna State Opera (2010).
Johannes Martin Kränzle is a German baritone in opera and concert who has made an international career. For years a member of the Oper Frankfurt, he was chosen as Singer of the Year in 2011 after creating the leading role in Wolfgang Rihm's Dionysos at the Salzburg Festival. He made his debut at the Royal Opera House as Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte, and at the Bayreuth Festival as Beckmesser in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 2017.
Kateryna Kasper is a Ukrainian operatic soprano. A member of the Oper Frankfurt, she has appeared in major international opera houses. She has performed in recitals and recordings. Her broad repertory includes works from Cavalieri's Spiel von Seele und Körper to the premiere of Der goldene Drache by Péter Eötvös.
Wolfgang Rennert was a German conductor. He focused on opera, at the Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Berlin, Mannheim National Theatre and the Semperoper, among others. He premiered operas, such as Louise Talma's Die Alkestiade in Frankfurt, and Rainer Kunad's Sabellicus in East Berlin. Regarded as a specialist in Mozart, Wagner and Strauss, he was a guest conductor at international opera houses including the Royal Opera House in London, the San Francisco Opera and the Dallas Opera.
Vincent Boussard is a French opera and theatre director. First a specialist for early opera, he became known for his versions of romantic operas, sometimes in international collaboration. His staging of Massenet's Manon was presented at the Vilnius National Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the Korea National Opera. His production of Bellini's I puritani was shown at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie and the Oper Frankfurt.
Karine Babajanyan is an Armenian operatic soprano.
Christof Nel is a German theatre and opera director. He began his career as an actor but moved on to direct opera productions at major opera houses.
Michael Volle is a German operatic baritone. After engagements at several German and Swiss opera houses, he has worked freelance since 2011. While he first appeared in Mozart roles such as Guglielmo, Papageno and Don Giovanni, he moved on to title roles such as Verdi's Falstaff, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Alban Berg's Wozzeck. He has performed at major opera houses in Europe and the Metropolitan Opera, in roles including Mandryka in Arabella and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. His awards include Singer of the Year by Opernwelt and Der Faust.
Hainer Hill was a German scenic designer, costume designer, painter, graphic artist and theatre photographer who was based in Berlin and worked internationally. After studying painting in Frankfurt, he worked at the Oper Frankfurt, assisting Caspar Neher. Together they moved to Brecht's Berliner Ensemble where Hill created an iconic stage for Mutter Courage and took hundreds of scene photographs now archived at the Akademie der Künste. When the Berlin Wall was erected, Hill, who lived in the West and had worked in the East, began to work freelance, including at the Royal Opera House. In 1966 he became director of scenery (Ausstattunggsleiter) at Opernhaus Dortmund, and there he created the stage for the world premiere of Eli by Walter Steffens, which was followed by 45 other productions. Hill is best remembered for his focus on light projection.
Ita Maximowna was a Russian-German scenic designer, costume designer and illustrator. She was one of the first women in the professions in Germany who worked internationally. Trained as a painter, she came to the theatre late, after World War II in Berlin, and became a scenic designer first in theatres of the city, then internationally both for plays and opera, and in collaboration with directors such as a Günther Rennert and conductors such as Herbert von Karajan.
Michael Thalheimer is a German theatre director.
Ute Trekel-Burckhardt is a German operatic mezzo-soprano. She was a long-time lead soloist of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in East Berlin. She took part in world premieres such as Noch einen Löffel Gift, Liebling? by Siegfried Matthus and Heinrich Sutermeister's Le Roi Bérenger. Even before the fall of the Berlin Wall, she appeared internationally, including the Vienna State Opera in her signature role, the tile role of Der Rosenkavalier, and at Opéra de Nancy in Schönberg's Erwartung.
Constantin Trinks is a German conductor.
Claus Guth is a German theatre director, focused on opera. He has directed operas at major houses and festivals, including world premieres such as works of the Munich Biennale, and Berio's Cronaca del luogo at the Salzburg Festival in 1999. Guth is particularly known for his opera productions of the works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. He has received two Faust awards, for Daphne by Richard Strauss in 2010, and for Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, both at the Oper Frankfurt.
