The 2025/6 programme was rolled out this morning under the enigmatic Sartrean slogan: ‘Man is what he makes of himself.’
Here goes:
PREMIERES OF THE BAYERISCHE STAATSOPER 2025–26
THE ENGLISH CAT
The first premiere of the 2025–26 season will take place in early November 2025 at the Cuvilliés Theatre: Die englische Katze, a new production by the Opera Studio, directed by Christiane Lutz. The director returns to the house for her third production — after The Consul and Mignon — together with set designer Christian Andre Tabakoff. The musical direction will be in the hands of Katharina Wincor.
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (NOTSCH PERED ROSCHDESTWOM)
At the end of November 2025, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Night Before Christmas will follow. This staging will be Barrie Kosky’s seventh production at the Bayerische Staatsoper, following Die Fledermaus, Der Rosenkavalier, and Das schlaue Füchslein, among others. The musical direction will be led by General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski.
FAUST
For Charles Gounod’s Faust, a team already well known in Munich will return to the Bayerische Staatsoper: director Lotte de Beer, costume designer Jorine van Beek and dramaturg Peter te Nuyl previously collaborated on Il trittico by Giacomo Puccini in 2017. Joining them is set designer Christof Hetzer, who made his Bayerische Staatsoper debut in 2011 with the world premiere of the chamber opera Make No Noise. For the first time, Nathalie Stutzmann will conduct at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Having transitioned from an internationally acclaimed career as a contralto to conducting on both sides of the Atlantic, she has been Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2022 and previously served as Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (2018–2023) and Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra (2021–2024). In 2023 and 2024, she conducted Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival. As a singer, Nathalie Stutzmann is no stranger to the Bayerische Staatsoper: a renowned Baroque specialist, she performed the role of Amastre in several productions of Xerxes from 2003 to 2005.
RIGOLETTO
The team led by Barbara Wysocka is already well established at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The Warsaw-based director collaborated with set designer Barbara Hanicka and costume designer Julia Kornacka on Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. The musical direction will be in the hands of Maurizio Benini, a highly sought-after expert in Italian opera.
OF ONE BLOOD (World Premiere)
The Australian composer Brett Dean is already familiar to Munich audiences: his opera Hamlet, awarded “World Premiere of the Year 2018”, was staged at the Nationaltheater, as was Testament in a concert with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, which was also recorded on CD. Director Claus Guth has already demonstrated his virtuoso craft at the Bayerische Staatsoper with works of diverse origins. Most recently, he staged Die Liebe der Danae by Richard Strauss, a composer regarded as a “house deity” of the Bayerische Staatsoper. The world premiere of Of One Blood will be conducted by General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, who previously conducted Dean’s Hamlet and Testament with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester.
DIE WALKÜRE
After making his Nationaltheater debut with Mieczysław Weinberg’s Die Passagierin, Faust Award winner Tobias Kratzer staged Das Rheingold in autumn 2024, marking the prologue to Richard Wagner’s fifteen-hour Ring cycle. Now, the second installment of the tetralogy follows: Die Walküre. General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski will conduct the new Ring cycle.
ALCINA
The season finale will bring the premiere of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Alcina at the Prinzregententheater. Faust Award winner Johanna Wehner will make her directorial debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The production will be conducted by Stefano Montanari, who was most recently seen at the podium for La Fille du régiment. A former renowned Baroque violinist, Montanari is a specialist in 17th- and 18th-century opera, making him a perfect choice for this production.
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