Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater

The Mecklenburg State Theatre is a six-division theatre in the state capital of Schwerin. Alongside numerous new productions, the theatre stages the annual Schwerin Castle Festival. The beginning of Schwerin's music and theatre history is generally considered to be 17 June 1563, when Duke Johann Albrecht I of Mecklenburg appointed the conductor David Köler court conductor and at the same time commissioned him to found a court chapel. This court chapel is the origin of today's Mecklenburg State Orchestra Schwerin, which after the Saxon State Orchestra Dresden and the State Orchestra Kassel is regarded as the third-oldest orchestra in Germany. In the mid-18th century the Schönemann Company led by Johann Friedrich Schönemann was the best theatre troupe in Germany. The theatre-loving Duke Christian Ludwig II brought the troupe to the Mecklenburg court in 1750. Its most important member was Conrad Ekhof, regarded as one of the best German actors of the 18th century. On 5 May 1753 Ekhof and Schönemann founded the Academy of the Schönemann Company, the first German actors' academy, devoted above all to the theory and method of acting. The academy lasted only thirteen months.