The Staatstheater Kassel is a state-owned and operated German theater in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The theatre employs around 500 people. The opera house has 953 seats, the Playhouse Theatre 540 seats and the Fridericianum 99 seats. With its total number of 1,592 seats, the theater recorded around 227,000 attendances in the 2008/09 season.

History

A permanent theatre house existed in Kassel during the first decade of the 17th century. It stood immediately next to the Ottoneum near the State Theatre, which is now used as a Natural History Museum and is considered one of the oldest of its kind north of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. Further buildings were constructed for use as public theatre venues, and in the 18th century the opera house was erected on Königsstraße, in which the singer Elisabeth Mara staged her first success and which was conducted by

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

. On the orders of

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

, a theatre was built in 1909 possessing one of the largest stages in the country and seating for an audience of over 1,450. The building was heavily damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The architectural competition for a replacement was won by

Hans Scharoun Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (; 20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic arc ...

but his ideas were not implemented. Instead, the plans of architects Paul Bode and Ernst Brunding were realized. Construction finished in 1959 (the competition models are on display at the Kassel City Museum). In 1989, an additional auditorium with 99 seats, the studio stage TIF – ''Theater im Fridericianum'' (Kassel), was erected. The state theatre's orchestra has one of Germany's longest traditions, having been mentioned as Court Orchestra as early as 1502. The current ''Intendant'' (Managing Director) of the company is Florian Lutz, since 2021. The current ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (General Music Director, GMD) of the company is Francesco Angelico, since 2017. Angelico is scheduled to stand down from the post at the close of the 2024-2025 season. In July 2024, the company announced the appointment of Ainārs Rubiķis as its next GMD, effective with the 2025-2026 season, with an initial contract of three seasons.

''Intendanten'' (Managing Directors; partial list)

* Paul Bekker (1925–1927) * Franz Ulbrich (1935–1945) * Manfred Schaffner (1953–1961) * Günter Skopnik (1962–1966) * Ulrich Brecht (1966–1972) * Peter Löffler (1972–1975) * Peter Mertz (1975–1980) * Giancarlo del Monaco (1980–1982) * Manfred Beilharz (1983–1991) * Michael Leinert (1991–1999) * Christoph Nix (1999–2004) * Thomas Bockelmann (2004–2021) * Florian Lutz (2021–present)

''Hofkapellmeister'' (Court Conductors) and ''Generalmusikdirektoren'' (General Music Directors) (partial list)

* Jorg Senger (~1539) * Johann Heugel (~1570) * Georg Otto (~1613) * Michael Hartmann (1651) * Ruggiero Fedeli (1711) * Ignatio Fiorillo (1764) * Jean Baptiste Rochefort (1785) * Carl Guhr (1814–1821) * Siegfried Benzon (1821) *

(1822–1857) * Karl Reiss (1857–1880) * Wilhelm Treiber (1880–1899) * Franz Beier (1899–1914) * Robert Laugs (1914–1935) * Robert Heger (1935–1944) * Richard Holz (1945–1948) * Karl Elmendorff (1948–1951) * Paul Schmitz (1951–1963) *

Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnan ...

(1963–1966) *

Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht (19 July 1935 – 2 February 2014) was a German conductor. Biography Albrecht was born in Essen, the son of the musicologist Hans Albrecht (1902–1961). He studied music in Kiel and in Hamburg, where his teachers included Wilhel ...

(1966–1972) * James Lockhart (1972–1980) * Woldemar Nelsson (1980–1987) *

Ádám Fischer Ádám Fischer (born 9 September 1949 in Budapest) is a Hungarian conductor. He is the general music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, chief conductor of the Danish Chamber Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Düsseldorf ...

(1987–1992) * Georg Schmöhe (1992–1997) * Roberto Paternostro (1997–2007) * Patrik Ringborg (2007–2017) * Francesco Angelico (2017–present)

References

External links

Official website of the Staatstheater Kassel
German opera companies Opera houses in Germany Theatre companies in Germany Theatres completed in 1909 Theatres completed in 1959 {{Germany-theat-stub