About
The Komische Oper Berlin has had its own orchestra from the start. The opening of the house in December 1947 was also the hour of birth of this newly founded orchestra, with which Walter Felsenstein wanted to realize his conception of music theater. Right from the start, the orchestra made a name for itself with a concert cycle, and there too, in instrumental music, pursued the convictions on which musical theater is based. Conductors such as Otto Klemperer, Meinhard v. Zallinger, Václav Neumann, Robert Hanell and Kurt Masur shaped the orchestra significantly in both opera and concert productions.
Numerous recordings testify to the charisma achieved by the orchestra at that time, which later chief conductors such as Rolf Reuter, Yakov Kreizberg, Kirill Petrenko - elected Conductor of the Year 2007 by Opernwelt magazine - Carl St. Clair and Patrick Lange. Many important guest conductors have expanded the artistic spectrum; Among them were, for example, Rudolf Kempe, Franz Konwitschny, Kirill Kondraschin, Klaus Tennstedt, Hartmut Haenchen, Rudolf Barschai, Lothar Zagrosek and Fabio Luisi.
Special weight was and is attached to contemporary music. The orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin has worked on many world premieres in collaboration with composers such as Benjamin Britten, Hans Werner Henze, Giuseppe Manzoni, Siegfried Matthus, Aribert Reimann, Krzysztof Penderecki, Cristobál Halffter and Hans Zender. The proportion of new works in the concerts is high, but the overall repertoire is always designed in the broadest possible way: from Mozart to the great romantic composers of the 19th century and early modern music to the current music creation of our time.
The orchestra, which comprises 112 musicians, is also committed to chamber music and regularly plays chamber concerts in various formations. The series of concerts for children designed for families with children and the moderated concert rehearsals for young people and other interested visitors underline the educational responsibility and the desire to inspire new and young generations of audiences for classical music. From the 2018/19 season, the Latvian conductor Ainārs Rubiķis will be the musical director of the Komische Oper Berlin.