Venue: Staatsoper Berlin
Director: Vincent Boussard
Conductor: Wayne Marshall
First performance: 6 June 2014 (6 performances through 25 June)
Event page

The Staatsoper Berlin (at the Schiller Theater) will open a new production of Weill and Brecht’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny in June. The cast features Michael König as Jimmy, Evelin Novak as Jenny, and Gabriele Schnaut as Begbick. Vincent Boussard directs; Wayne Marshall conducts.

The Staatsoper played an important role in the development of Weill’s career. On 2 March 1927 (Weill’s birthday), Erich Kleiber conducted the premiere of the cantata Der neue Orpheus and the one-act opera Royal Palace. This was Weill’s first opera production in Berlin, another milestone on the path to being one of Germany’s leading young composers. In 1930, when Weill was firmly established, he tried to convince Otto Klemperer to conduct Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Staatsoper, but Klemperer declined after a long period of indecision. While the Staatsoper has produced other Weill works, it has never staged Mahagonny until now.

Features

Kim Kowalke on the opera (video)

Introductory feature on berlin1.com

Learn more about Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny