Deutsche Oper

On September 24, 1961, the building, designed by Fritz Bornemann, was opened with Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI. At Ferenc Fricsay’s suggestion, the “Städtische Oper” became the “Deutsche Oper Berlin”. The opening took place once again in times of great political and social upheaval. Six weeks before, on August 13, 1961, the East German regime had put up a wall which separated the eastern half of Berlin – and thus the “Staatsoper” and “Komische Oper” – from the western half. Berlin had become an island, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin one of the most important national cultural sites in Germany – and for the people of West-Berlin the only opera stage.