The company of the Deutche Oper Berlin, before establishing itself at Charlottenburg, has a decades-long history of wandering through different venues. Its first performance dates back to 1912 with a production of Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’. In 1925, the company moved to the site, which was then named ädtische Oper, but only some two decades later, with the coming of the Third Reich, its name was changed to Deutsches Opernhaus. In 1935, the site underwent serious alterations under the direction of architect Paul Baumgarten, and its seating capacity was reduced to 2,100. This old opera house, however, was demolished in 1943. Following the war, the opera company was relocated to the Theatre des Westens, awaiting the construction of a building by Fritz Bornemann, which was eventually completed in 1961 and inaugurated with the staging of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’. Over the years, the site has been directed by, subsequently, Bruno Walter, Ferenc Fricsay, Lorin Maazel, Gerd Albrecht, Jesús López Cobos, Christian Thielemann and Renato Palumbo.

Some of the highlights in the opera’s history have included the leadership of Gustav Rudolf Sellner, who directed the performance of Arnold Schönerg’s ‘Moses and Aron’. Sellener also invited conductors Karl Böhm and Eugen Jochum, who largely contributed to the site’s development into a cultural hub. Some of the singers who worked here during that period include Evelyn Lear, Gundula Janowitz, Pilar Lorengar, Leonie Rysanek and Agnes Baltsa. The opera welcomed international performers and also travelled extensively with several of its performances. Some of the most memorable events in the opera’s history were the stagings of new versions of Wagner operas. The directorship of Egon Seefehlner, the participation of cellist Siegfried Palm in the management structure, and the hiring of singers Edita Gruberova, Segfried Jerusalem and Barbara Hendricks made for a huge success. It was also here that Götz Friedrich, the student of Walter Felsenstein, directed his first performance in 1977.

Since the late 1960s, the opera house and its performances have been the cause of a significant stir in Berlin’s social circles. In 1967, a student, who protested against the visit of the Shah of Iran in Germany, was shot in the opera. In 2006, the cancellation of the performance of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ brought another controversy. The reason for the cancellation was in fear that parts of the opera’s content would insult Muslims. The opera, indeed, contained a single scene of the decapitated spiritual leaders Jesus Christ, Buddha and Muhammad. Fearing that this particular scene might pose a threat to the opera’s security, and thinking of possible protests and bursts of violence, the rehearsals were terminated. On the Muslim side, the decision received mixed reactions. While the local Islamic Council wanted the performance banned, the head of the Turkish community declared that art did not have anything to do with politics and that the play was politically irrelevant. Thus, the performances were continued.