2023-07-09 21:12:53
HomeCultureState Opera for everyone: Huge success despite the heat
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden was able to attract the crowds at the weekend despite the high temperatures. On Sunday alone there must have been 21,000 visitors.
Berlin, July 8, 2023: Visitors follow the public live broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Don Carlo” as part of the “State Opera for All”. dpa
Even in the sweltering heat, the Berlin series of events “State Opera for All” has once again attracted thousands to the Bebelplatz next to the State Opera Unter den Linden. The Staatskapelle and the meanwhile 87-year-old Zubin Mehta at the conductor’s desk were frenetically celebrated on Sunday evening. On a stage in the square next to the opera house, they played the overture to Richard Wagner’s “Rienzi” and Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony in front of the audience, who sat on blankets or cushions, in chairs they had brought or rented.
The State Opera estimated the number of visitors on Sunday at around 21,000.
On Saturday evening, an estimated 12,000 people gave enthusiastic applause for Giuseppe Verdi’s “Don Carlo” in a production by Philipp Himmelmann. Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner praised the atmosphere and said at the opening: “The DNA of Berlin is the culture, that’s where you can feel the enthusiasm.”
Verdi’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s story about futile love between political intrigues and the Inquisition was transferred from the opera house directly to a screen on the square that was once called Opernplatz. The performance was under the musical direction of Daniele Rustioni.
Matthias Schulz, director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, told the Berliner Zeitung that the festival was “particularly overwhelming this year”: “To experience the square completely full again after the last few years, with so many different people coming together to experience music was indescribable.”
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Schulz continues: “33,000 guests, including Berliners, tourists, families, young and old music lovers, also curious people who came over from Rave the Planet – that was really a state opera for everyone! I am always amazed at the concentration with which the tens of thousands of visitors listen and get involved with the music. State Opera for All shows again and again in a very special way how connecting music is.” Schulz also acknowledged the fact that BMW sponsored the event and made it possible in the first place. (with dpa)
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