Semperoper

The Semperoper Dresden is home to the Sächsische Staatsoper and ranks among the most architecturally beautiful opera houses in Europe. The current building, designed by Gottfried Semper, is the third on the site—the first was destroyed by fire in 1869, the second by Allied bombing in February 1945. The current reconstruction, opened in 1985 on the fortieth anniversary of the bombing, faithfully restored Semper's Italian High Renaissance design with its distinctive semicircular façade facing the Theaterplatz. The Staatskapelle Dresden, founded in 1548, is one of the world's oldest orchestras. Under conductors such as Karl Böhm, Herbert Blomstedt, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Fabio Luisi, and Christian Thielemann, the ensemble has maintained a dark, burnished sound that is distinctively German. The house has a particular claim on Wagner—who premiered Rienzi, Der fliegende Holländer, and Tannhäuser here—and on Richard Strauss, who premiered nine of his fifteen operas in Dresden, including Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier.