Bavarian State Opera


The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany. Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra. The company's home base is the National Theatre Munich.

History

The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Electress consort Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, when Giovanni Battista Maccioni's L'arpa festante was performed in the court theatre. In 1753, the Residence Theatre was opened as a major stage. While opera performances were also held in the Prinzregententheater, the company's home base is the National Theatre Munich on Max-Joseph-Platz.
In 1875, the Munich Opera Festival took place for the first time. Sir Peter Jonas became the general manager in 1993, the first British general manager of any major German-speaking opera house. In 2008, Nikolaus Bachler became general manager of the opera company. The current general music director of the company is Kirill Petrenko, since 2013. In 2014, the Bavarian State Opera received the Opernhaus des Jahres award from Opernwelt magazine. In October 2015, the company announced the extensions of the current respective contracts of Bachler and of Petrenko through August 2021. Petrenko is scheduled to work as a guest conductor with the company in the final year of his current contract, the 2020–2021 season. Both Bachler and Petrenko are scheduled to stand down from their respective posts at the close of the 2020–2021 season. In March 2018, the company announced the appointments of Serge Dorny as its next general manager, and of Vladimir Jurowski as its next Generalmusikdirektor, both effective with the 2021–2022 season.

General managers