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Germany

The Staatstheater Kassel – A theater with tradition

With the Ottoneum, which the art-loving Landgrave Moritz the Scholar had named after his son Otto, the oldest permanent theater building north of the Alps was built in Kassel. In 1605, more than 400 years ago, students of the Collegium Mauritianum performed Sophocles' Antigone here . English comedians made guest appearances at the Ottoneum on their journeys from London to Prague, introducing both courtly and bourgeois audiences to the works of Marlowe and Shakespeare. The Kassel State Orchestra, which emerged from the Landgräfliche Hofkapelle, celebrated its 500th anniversary in the 2002/03 season and is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Louis Spohr worked in Kassel from 1822 to 1859 and turned what was then the court theater into a venue for the new romantic opera.

The most famous composer and conductor who worked in Kassel was Gustav Mahler, who from 1883 to 1885 was 2nd Kapellmeister and choir director at the Staatstheater Kassel. Here he composed, among other things, the songs of a traveling journeyman. The Gustav Mahler Festival has been held in Kassel every two years since 1989. In the years 1766 to 1769 the "Electoral Court Theater in Cassel" was built on Oberen Königsstraße, where the Kaufhof is today. 140 years later, on August 26, 1909, the Königliche Schauspiele opened in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II on Friedrichsplatz with Albert Lortzing's Undine , the Kaiser's favorite opera - one of the largest German theaters with 1450 seats. 

The Kassel bombing night of World War II, from October 22 to 23, 1943, destroyed the theater so much that it could no longer be used. The town hall served as a makeshift theater and was opened on November 11, 1945 with Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris , the classic commitment to humanity. The plan  to perform Così fan tutte had to be dropped because the singers got hoarse in the unheated vestibule of the town hall.

 

In 1951, a competition was announced for the planning of a new theater building, in which architects submitted 117 works. The design by the well-known architect of the Berlin Philharmonic, Hans Scharoun, was unanimously voted first place – but the start of construction was canceled in 1954 on the grounds that deadlines and financial limits could not be met. Instead, the Hessian state government commissioned Paul Bode from Kassel to create a design. The Munich artist Blasius Spreng designed the foyers and the auditorium. In view of the unrealized design by Hans Scharoun, there was talk of the »Kassel State Theater disaster«. On September 12, 1959, the opera house opened with the premiere of the commissioned opera Prometheusby Rudolf Wagner-Régeny based on motifs by Aeschylus and on September 13, 1959 the theater with Maria Stuart  by Friedrich Schiller was ceremonially opened.

A ceremony and a concert were held on September 12, 2009 to mark the 50th anniversary of this opening. In the 1983/84 season, the director at the time, Manfred Beilharz, opened a studio stage with 99 seats under the name »Theater im Fridericianum« – »tif« for short. This quickly became the popular third venue. After almost two and a half years in alternative venues, the Kassel State Theater was able to perform Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde on February 3rd in the opera house and Don Karlos after extensive refurbishmentby Friedrich Schiller in the Schauspielhaus on February 4, 2007. With the two large stages and their possibilities for transformation, Kassel's long and traditional music and theater history can now be done spatially and technically again. 

Today, the Staatstheater Kassel, with around 500 permanent employees, sees itself as a modern theater company that feels equally committed to tradition and modernity. 30 new productions in the categories of music theatre, drama, dance theatre, children's and youth theatre, plus symphony, chamber, family, school and special concerts make up the wide range year after year. In addition, an extensive theater and concert education program ensures that children and young people are taught.

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