Staatsoper Berlin 2010-2017

The Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden has been extensively renovated over the last seven years. This was one of the most complex construction projects in Berlin in recent times, and its aim was to transform the city's oldest theatre - a venue that has hosted legendary opera performances - into "one of the most modern theatres in Europe, if not the world" (artistic director Jürgen Flimm). During the reconstruction project, planned by Berlin-based architecture firm HG Merz, the Staatsoper performed as a guest company at the Schiller Theater in Charlottenburg.
The two-volume book Staatsoper Berlin 2010-2017 is being published on the opening day of the renovated Staatsoper on 3 October 2017. It documents the opera company's seven years at the Schiller Theater as well as the renovation of the Staatsoper building.

The first volume, Die Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, tells the story of the Berliner Staatsoper at the Schiller Theater from 2010 to 2017. The opera company premiered over 100 new works of musical theatre, performed over 550 concerts, and hosted around 2,500 events during this time. The repertoire during the seven years included works from the Baroque period through to world premieres as well as classical, romantic, and contemporary pieces. The theatre itself was a "first-class temporary venue" (Daniel Barenboim) - an inspiring space that facilitated a productive time for the artists, combining the charm of the 1950s with the spirit of the present day. The images and texts illuminate the last seven years of the Staatsoper's history, bringing the period at the Schiller Theatre to life.
The second volume, Die Staatsoper Unter den Linden, documents the renovation and restoration of the theatre, originally built in the Prussian neoclassical style in 1742. This building is of enormous cultural and historical significance, and the recent restoration has been the most extensive one to date. The Staatsoper has gone through numerous changes in the last 275 years, and the aim of the renovation was to restore the building in line with monument conservation requirements while making it technologically fit for modern theatre operations. This volume documents what was perhaps the most ambitious project of the century, presenting the works carried out by the architects, specialist planners, craftspeople, builders, and monument conservators and reporting on the challenge of sensitively bringing together history and modernity