2020 Updates from the Berlin Staatsoper
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden Costume Department has sewn around 9,000 masks for the community
Since March 23, 30 employees in the costume department of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden have switched from sewing costumes to sewing masks during the COVID-19 interruption of the production season. Up to 200 masks are made each day in home offices or during shifts at the tailoring studio. In eight weeks, almost 9,000 masks were manufactured and delivered at cost price - including to the Unionhilfswerk, Caritas, and to institutions of the Joint Welfare Association.
“When the Berlin Senate asked for support, it was immediately clear that we wanted to help, and the entire department showed solidarity! We are glad that we were able to help so many institutions. Sewing continues until Ascension Day, after which we’ll start preparation for the next season,” says costume director Birgit Wentsch.
Anniversary production of FATTO MATTO AMADÉ will be presented in November 2020
In 2010, the Lichtenberg Children's Opera House was founded by Regina Lux-Hahn as a cooperation between the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Lichtenberg district, and the Caritas Association for the Archdiocese of Berlin. For ten years now, primary school children ages 8 to 13, regardless of their background and education, have been able to design musical theater works and perform them in front of an audience. To date, over 500 children from Lichtenberg have been involved in the Children’s Opera House productions, and the project has also achieved great appeal beyond the district as a highly successful and multi-award-winning cultural education project.
In 2018, the Berlin Project Fund for Cultural Education took over funding the Children's Opera House as a structure-building project. The Staatsoper Unter den Linden then anchored the project firmly in the House on the initiative of Director Matthias Schulz, and expanded it into the “Children's Opera House Berlin” with partners in six districts (Reinickendorf, Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Treptow-Köpenick, Lichtenberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf) and seventeen cooperation partners, including elementary schools, district music schools and the Berlin Caritas Association. There are now a total of four children's opera houses in Berlin - in addition to Lichtenberg also in Marzahn, Reinickendorf and at the State Opera Unter den Linden - as well as eleven children's opera companies at cooperating primary schools, which are financially supported by the districts involved.
Regina Lux-Hahn, director of the Children's Opera House, says “Without the generous support of the Lichtenberg district and Caritas Association's commitment to the Archdiocese of Berlin, the idea of the children's opera could never have achieved this development. By linking the children's opera project to the State Opera Unter den Linden, my wish to familiarize children in their neighborhood with the world of opera could be implemented in this quality in a unique way. I am very grateful to all supporters for this.”
Director Matthias Schulz: “Lichtenberger primary school children have been learning the world of opera in a very playful way for 10 years, and have had great joy in music theater by singing and playing together. Being on stage with our opera soloists promotes self-confidence, creativity, and social skills. With the establishment of the Berlin Children's Opera House in another five districts, sustainable networking between the State Opera Unter den Linden and local cultural and educational institutions has increased even further. My thanks go to all partners and supporters who make it possible for hundreds of children to do opera in their neighborhood.”
“We are proud to look back on ten years of successful work by the children's opera house in Lichtenberg. The children's opera is not only a local institution in which schools, social and cultural institutions work together, but has also become an exemplary model for cultural education in other districts as well,” said district mayor Michael Grunst.
The performances of the anniversary production FATTO MATTO AMADÉ, which were originally planned for mid-May 2020 and which are being produced in cooperation with the Junge Staatstheater - Theater at the Park and the Junge KammerEnsemble of the Schostakowitsch Music School Berlin-Lichtenberg, have to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony for the anniversary and the premiere will take place on November 6th, 2020 in the Theater at the Park, and further performances (for school classes) will follow on November 7th, 8th and 9th.