Orpheus in the Underworld and Orpheus in Hell are English names for Orphée aux enfers, a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "opéra bouffon" at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, on 21 October 1858, and was extensively revised and expanded in a four-act "opéra féerie" version, presented at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 7 February 1874.
The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals.
Barbe-bleue is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on Charles Perrault's 1697 story.
Walter Kollo was a German composer of operettas, Possen mit Gesang, and Singspiele as well as popular songs. He was also a conductor and a music publisher.
The Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, commonly called the Gärtnerplatztheater, is an opera house and opera company in Munich. Designed by Michael Reiffenstuel, it opened on 4 November 1865 as the city's second major theatre after the National Theatre.
Katharina Thalbach is a German actress and stage director. She played theatre at the Berliner Ensemble and at the Volksbühne Berlin, and was actress in the film The Tin Drum. She worked as a theatre and opera director.
Schwarzwaldmädel is a 1917 operetta in three acts by German composer Leon Jessel. The libretto is by August Neidhart, and the operetta premiered on 25 August 1917 at the old Komische Oper Berlin. It is the most popular operetta written in Germany.
Bernhard Bötel was a German operatic tenor and actor who had an active career in Germany and Austria during the first half of the 20th century. He made recordings for several record labels during the early years of the recording industry, including His Master's Voice, Odeon Records, Polydor Records, Tri-Ergon, and Vox Records. On the stage he sang a variety of roles in operas and operettas from leading parts to comprimario roles. His stage repertoire included Belmonte in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Chapelou in Adolphe Adam's Le postillon de Lonjumeau, Count Almaviva in Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Daniel in Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, Gabriel von Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, Indigo in Strauss' Indigo und die vierzig Räuber, Jeník in Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride, Paolino in Domenico Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto, Pâris in Jacques Offenbach's La belle Hélène, Pietro in Franz von Suppé's Boccaccio, and Wilhelm Meister in Ambroise Thomas' Mignon.
The Theater des Westens is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at Kantstraße 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedicated to opera and operetta. Enrico Caruso made his debut in Berlin here, and the Ballets Russes appeared with Anna Pavlova. In the 1930s it was run as the Volkstheater Berlin. After World War II it served as the temporary opera house of Berlin, the Städtische Oper. In 1961 it became the first theatre in Germany to show musicals. Since then it has become the "German equivalent of Broadway extravaganzas", putting on plays and musical comedies.
Peter Lund is a German theatre director, playwright, and author, as well as Professor for Acting at Berlin University of the Arts. He has pioneered the New German Musical at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin.
Judith Beckmann is an American-German soprano. She has spent the majority of her stage career in Germany and Austria.
Claudia Mahnke is a German operatic mezzo-soprano, a member of the Oper Frankfurt, with guest appearances at leading opera houses and the Bayreuth Festival.
Nicole Chevalier is an American operatic soprano, who debuted at the renowned Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2019. She was a member of the Komische Oper Berlin, and has been a freelance artist since 2017. Her repertoire includes bel canto as well as Mozart heroines such as Verdi's La Traviata, Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Lucia di Lammermoor, Mozart's Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Elettra in Idomeneo, and stretches till Aribert Reimann's Medea. In 2016, she was awarded the German National Theatre prize Der Faust for all four female characters in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
Melitta Muszely was an Austrian operatic soprano and a voice teacher. She made a career based in Germany, mainly at the Hamburg State Opera with guest contracts to the Komische Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera, among others. She took part in world premieres, and performed internationally in Europe. She appeared as all four female characters in Offenbach's Hoffmanns Erzählungen in the legendary 1958 production by Walter Felsenstein, and sang recitals until 2008.
RudolfSchanzer was an Austrian playwright and journalist. He is primarily known for the numerous operetta librettos that he wrote for composers such as Leo Fall, Jean Gilbert, Emmerich Kálmán, and Ralph Benatzky. He was born in Vienna and died in Italy where he committed suicide after his arrest by the Gestapo.
Karine Babajanyan is an Armenian operatic soprano.
Christof Nel is a German theatre and opera director. He began his career as an actor but moved on to direct opera productions at major opera houses.
Björn Bürger is a German operatic baritone. The winner of the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin in 2012, he was a member of Oper Frankfurt from 2013 to 2018, where he performed roles such as the title role in the 2017 world premiere of Arnulf Herrmann's Der Mieter. He has appeared in Europe, including as Rossini's Figaro, Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, and Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, at the Glyndebourne Festival. He has been a member of the Staatsoper Stuttgart from 2019.
Gaëlle Arquez is a French operatic mezzo-soprano.
Ilse Hülper was a German theatre and film actress, operatic and operetta soprano.
