Staatsoper Stuttgart

The Stuttgart State Opera is among the most important European opera houses and at the same time part of the largest multi-division theatre in Europe. Its venue is the neoclassical Großes Haus in the Oberer Schlossgarten, built from 1909 to 1912 to designs by the architect Max Littmann as part of the royal court theatres. Together with the Stuttgart Ballet and the Stuttgart Drama, the State Opera forms the Württemberg State Theatres Stuttgart. It has repeatedly been named "Opera House of the Year" and honoured for its "Chorus of the Year". Since the 2018/19 season Viktor Schoner has been intendant and Cornelius Meister general music director. The history of the Stuttgart State Opera reaches back to the 17th century, when the first performances took place in the Neues Lusthaus. The Singspiel Der Raub der Proserpina under the court conductor Samuel Capricornus (1660) is regarded as the first opera performance there. The Neues Lusthaus was converted into an opera house in 1750 and into the royal court theatre in 1811/1845. In 1902 the court theatres burned down, whereupon the Munich architect Max Littmann built a two-house theatre at today's site from 1909 to 1912. One of the first performances after its inauguration was the premiere of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos in 1912, conducted by the composer himself. In the Second World War the Kleines Haus was destroyed while the Großes Haus survived.