Press Releases
The Theatre-Award-Berlin Goes to Sivan Ben Yishai
In the year of its 40th anniversary, the Foundation Preußische Seehandlung bestows the Theatre-Award-Berlin to Sivan Ben Yishai. According to the jury, the dramatist “appeared like a comet on the firmament of German-language theatre”.
16 March 2023MaerzMusik 2023: Festival Will Open Under new Direction Back at the Haus der Berliner Festpiele
The first edition of MaerzMusik by the new artistic director Kamila Metwaly and guest curator Enno Poppe will open on Friday, March 17, at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with the music theater production “Hide to Show” by Michael Beil and the Nadar Ensemble from Belgium. This will be the first time since the 2019 edition that the festival presents itself on the big stage of the Festspielhaus. Here and at numerous other venues across Berlin, around 150 international artists will be presenting more than 50 current projects and works until 26 March, a wide range of contemporary music. In the Library of MaerzMusik, open daily from 14:00, visitors can browse books and scores pertaining to the festival’s musical events or attend conversations with artists, film presentations and artistic interventions. Admission to the Library is free.
16 March 2023Indigo Waves and Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora
The Gropius Bau is delighted to present Indigo Waves and Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora. The multi-chapter exhibition brings together works by contemporary artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers and researchers.
10 March 2023Edgar Selge Is the Juror of the 2023 Alfred-Kerr-Acting-Award
This award comes with a sum of 5,000 Euro and recognises an outstanding performance by a young actor in one of the productions invited to Theatertreffen. The prize will be awarded for the 27th time on the final weekend of the festival at Haus der Berliner Festspiele. This year’s juror Edgar Selge is one of the most distinguished theatre and film actors in the German-language region.
9 March 2023Daniel Boyd: RAINBOW SERPENT (VERSION)
The Gropius Bau is delighted to present Daniel Boyd’s RAINBOW SERPENT (VERSION), the most comprehensive show in Europe to date of the renowned artist, who lives and works on Gadigal and Wangal Country, Sydney.
17 February 202310 Productions & 10 Treffen
During a press conference at Haus der Berliner Festspiele on 26 January 2023, the new team of directors and the Theatertreffen-jury announced the selection of ten remarkable productions of the past theatre year that have been nominated for an invitation to the 60th Theatertreffen.
26 January 2023Programme is published
The programme of MaerzMusik 2023 has been published, which will be designed for the first time by Kamila Metwaly as artistic director and was created in collaboration with the composer and conductor Enno Poppe as guest curator.
17 January 2023“Les Troyens” With John Eliot Gardiner in Berlin
On 1 September, the Musikfest Berlin will present Hector Berlioz’ Grand Opéra in five acts “Les Troyens” at the Berlin Philharmonie Berlin. John Eliot Gardiner, who celebrates his 80th birthday on 20 April this year, will perform this work together with the Monteverdi Choir, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and numerous international soloists in a concertante version according to historical practices – the only German date in their 2023 European tour. Gardiner presented this monumental opera, which was never performed in full during the composer’s lifetime, in Paris for the first time in 2003 – an epochal event! Now the work can be heard in its entirety in Berlin for only the third time, after 1930 and 2010.
11 January 2023Theatertreffen-Blog 2023: Open Call
Berliner Festspiele’s Theatertreffen is looking for editors for the 2023 Theatertreffen-Blog. The deadline for applications is 31 January 2023.
9 December 2022Exhibition Programme 2023
We are pleased to announce the Gropius Bau’s exhibition programme for 2022. Key topics include establishing common ground, making space for one another, rituals of individual and collective caring and healing, and sites of memory and repair.
8 December 2022Musikfest Berlin 2023: The First Highlights Have Been Announced and Ticket Sales Have Begun
The 2023 Musikfest Berlin will take place from 26 August to 19 September, hosted by Berliner Festspiele in cooperation with the Foundation Berliner Philharmoniker. Once again, this international orchestra festival will launch Berlin’s concert season with guest orchestras, ensembles and soloists from around the world as well as Berlin’s own major orchestras.
7 December 2022“Love and Rhapsody” at Haus der Berliner Festspiele
To start off the New Year, Berliner Festspiele will present the Berlin premieres of two captivating productions: On 21 January, choreographer Emanuel Gat’s dance piece “LOVETRAIN2020” will unfold its powerful imagery to the music of Tears for Fears, and on 27 and 28 January, we will present Ming Wong’s “Rhapsody in Yellow. A Lecture-Performance with Two Pianos”.
Ticket sales start today, 2 December, at 14:00h.
Wu Tsang: Of Whales
The Gropius Bau is pleased to present world-renowned artist Wu Tsang’s Of Whales (2022), a large-scale installation accessible free of charge in the institution’s historic atrium.
16 November 2022A Celebration of Diversity: The Finale of Jazzfest Berlin 2022 with Standing Ovations
Jazzfest Berlin 2022 has returned to Haus der Berliner Festspiele and so has its audience: Over the four days of the festival from 3 to 6 November, around 7,000 visitors flocked to hear the mostly sold-out concerts at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, at the clubs A-Trane and Quasimodo and at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
7 November 2022Jazzfest Berlin 2022: Festival Opening on 3 November at Haus der Berliner Festspiele
After a kick-off at Pierre Boulez Saal with two ensembles around the pianist Alex Hawkins on Sunday, 30 October, the Jazzfest Berlin 2022 opens on Thursday, 3 November, on the Main Stage at Haus der Berliner Festspiele with projects by Tomeka Reid, Hamid Drake and Craig Taborn.
2 November 2022Theatertreffen 2023: Global Open Call for the International Forum
Berliner Festspiele’s Theatertreffen will take place in the period from 10 to 28 May 2023, celebrating its 60th anniversary. Beside the presentation of the ten remarkable productions from the German-language region, the programme planning will increase the focus on the aspect of “Treffen” (encounter). Accordingly, the Theatertreffen continues its long-standing International Forum and invites artists from across the world to an 18-day scholarship programme in Berlin.
17 October 2022Matthias Pees Starts as Director: Artistic Leadership Team Introduces Itself
On 1 September 2022, Matthias Pees became Director of the Berliner Festspiele. In today’s press conference at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the new artistic leadership team has introduced itself and offered a preview of the programme for 2022 and 2023.
5 October 2022Jazzfest Berlin 2022: Moving back / forward
After the two hybrid festival editions with digital bridges to New York, Johannesburg, Cairo and São Paulo due to the pandemic, the Jazzfest Berlin 2022 returns to the resonant physical space of the here and now, and welcomes over 150 musicians from all over the world to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and surrounding venues from 3 to 6 November.
14 September 2022New Guests at Musikfest Berlin: The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra performs in Berlin for the First Time
The Musikfest Berlin of the Berliner Festspiele is pleased to announce the concert of another guest orchestra: Conducted by their Principal Conductor Hobart Earle and featuring pianist Tamara Stefanovich as soloist, the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra will be guests at the Musikfest Berlin on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 20:00h at the Philharmonie. The programme will include works by Ukrainian composers Myroslav Skoryk, Mykola Lysenko and Alemdar Karamanov as well as the Second Symphony by Jean Sibelius. This concert is the orchestra’s only performance in Germany and is organised in cooperation with the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The Tickets are available now.
19 August 2022YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal
Featuring the diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives of 25 artistic positions, YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal addresses issues such as the politics of health, the resilience of Indigenous knowledge systems, forms of kinship, fair land use and its distribution, decoloniality and the rights of the non-human, all entangled with various concepts of care, repair and healing.
4 August 2022New Leadership Team for the Berliner Festspiele’s Theatertreffen
Four theatre practitioners stemming from Poland, Ukraine and Germany will take up the mantle of joint leadership of the Berliner Festspiele’s Theatertreffen in 2023. In early September, Olena Apchel, Marta Hewelt, Carolin Hochleichter and Joanna Nuckowska will begin planning and shaping the festival, which is scheduled to be held in May 2023.
6 July 2022Ana Prvački: Apis Gropius. An Augmented Reality Experience in the Atrium of the Gropius Bau
The Gropius Bau is pleased to announce the launch of Apis Gropius (2022), a unique, site-specific augmented reality (AR) experience by Ana Prvački. Prvački is the Gropius Bau’s first Digital Artist in Residence 2021/2022.
23 June 2022Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child
The Gropius Bau is pleased to present The Woven Child, the first major retrospective of Louise Bourgeois to focus exclusively on the works that she made with fabrics and textiles during the final chapter of her storied career.
7 June 2022Takeover – exhibition with international artists curated by kids in the Gropius Bau
Takeover – exhibition with international artists curated by kids in the Gropius Bau
25 May 2022Theatertreffen Finale
The 59th Theatertreffen ended on Sunday, 22 May with the traditional final jury debate, two award ceremonies and the performances of “Slippery Slope” at Maxim Gorki Theater and “Der Tartuffe oder Kapital und Ideologie” at Haus der Berliner Festspiele. With this edition of Theatertreffen, the festival’s long-standing director Yvonne Büdenhölzer and her team bid farewell to Berliner Festspiele.
23 May 2022The 2022 Alfred-Kerr-Acting-Award goes to Samouil Stoyanov
The Alfred-Kerr-Acting-Award was presented to Samouil Stoyanov at the conclusion of the Berlin Theatertreffen on Sunday, 22 May at Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
22 May 2022Stückemarkt: Commission of Work Goes to Amanda Wilkin
As part of the 59th Theatertreffen, the winner of the Stückemarkt Commission of Work was announced tonight, 19 May 2022: Amanda Wilkin.
19 May 2022Dr. Stephanie Rosenthal appointed as director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project
Dr. Stephanie Rosenthal, Director of the Gropius Bau, begins at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project on 1 September 2022.
13 May 2022Einstein on the Beach & I AM (VR): Opera and Virtual Theatre
Two productions by Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg will be presented at Haus der Berliner Festspiele from 30 June to 4 July: a new interpretation of the opera “Einstein on the Beach” and the VR-installation “I AM (VR)”.
Ticket sales begin on 11 May at 14:00.
Claudia Roth, State Minister for Culture, Opens Theatertreffen at Haus der Berliner Festspiele
Today, on May 6, Claudia Roth MdB, State Minister for Culture and the Media, will join festival director Yvonne Büdenhölzer to open the 59th Theatertreffen at Haus der Berliner Festspiele. After two years of the pandemic and extensive refurbishment, the Festspielhaus will once more open its doors to the public.
6 May 2022Musikfest Berlin welcomes guests from Europe, America and Asia
From 27 August to 19 September 2022, Berlin’s concert season begins anew with the Musikfest Berlin, presented by the Berliner Festspiele in cooperation with the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation.
28 April 2022Ayumi Paul is the Gropius Bau’s In House: Artist In Residence 2022
The Gropius Bau is pleased to welcome Ayumi Paul as In House: Artist in Residence 2022.
26 April 2022Invitation to a Press Talk with Artists
The 59th Theatertreffen will open on 6 May at Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The festival schedule including the comprehensive accompanying programme has been published on the website of Berliner Festspiele.
19 April 2022BURNING ISSUES x Theatertreffen (again!)
At the beginning of the Theatertreffen, on 7 and 8 May 2022, the conference BURNING ISSUES x Theatertreffen will be held for the first time at the Akademie der Künste on Pariser Platz and once again at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Founded in 2018 by Nicola Bramkamp and Lisa Jopt, the conference advocates increased (gender) equity in the performing arts.
The programme is published on our website. Entry is free of charge.
3sat-Award Goes to Director Claudia Bauer. / 3sat presents “Starke Stücke” from the 59th Theatertreffen.
This year’s 3sat-Award, which includes a sum of 10,000 Euros, goes to director Claudia Bauer for her production “humanistää! – eine abschaffung der sparten”, based on Ernst Jandl, from Volkstheater (Vienna), which was invited to Theatertreffen.
4 April 2022Theatertreffen in Hamburg
Between 11 and 20 May, Theatertreffen will present eight shows of SIGNA’s performance installation “Die Ruhe” at the former Paketpostamt Altona in Hamburg.
30 March 2022MaerzMusik 2022: Connecting through sound
From 18 to 27 March, MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues 2022 of the Berliner Festspiele took place in the Gropius Bau, silent green and other venues in Berlin. With open formats, new constellations of artists, homages to the music pioneer Éliane Radigue and the Fluxus co-founder Benjamin Patterson, with talks, workshops and films, this year's festival was an invitation to encounter each other anew on different levels and to forge relationships through sound experiences. Over 6.000 visitors came to the festival curated by Kamila Metwaly and Berno Odo Polzer, almost all of which is still available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library. At the Ukraine Fund Raising Concert on the closing Sunday of the festival, cash donations were collected to benefit the association “Wir packen's an”. The special account (GLS Bank; IBAN DE46 4306 0967 1059 2396 02) is still open for donations.
28 March 2022Actor Valery Tscheplanowa is the Juror of the 2022 Alfred-Kerr-Acting-Award
This award, which comes with a prize sum of 5,000 Euro, acknowledges an outstanding achievement by a young actor in one of the ten remarkable productions invited to Theatertreffen.
25 March 2022Theatertreffen to Open on 6 May with Christopher Rüping’s Production „Das neue Leben“ from Schauspielhaus Bochum
The 59th edition of the festival will be opened on Friday 6 May at Haus der Berliner Festspiele by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth MdB and Yvonne Büdenhölzer, Director of Theatertreffen.
21 March 2022MaerzMusik 2022: Festival starts tomorrow with a live audience and digital
MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues 2022 begins on Friday, 18 March, with “A Garden of Forking Paths” opening in the Gropius Bau. A Ukraine Fund Raising Concert will take place on 27 March as a joint initiative with ensemble mosaik as part of the final project “A Garden of Forking Paths – Finale”, combined with an appeal for donations for “Wir packen’s an e. V.”. Much of the content of MaerzMusik 2022 will be available live and on-demand in the just-launched Berliner Festspiele media library.
17 March 2022Letter of intent to support the voices of Ukrainian artists in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and across Europe
On the initiative of Stas Zhyrkov, Intendant Left Bank Theatre (Kyiv/Ukraine), over 100 cultural institutions, including Deutsches Theater Berlin, have so far signed the following letter of intent, which was sent to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine on March 14.
14 March 2022Stückemarkt of Theatertreffen: The Selected Works for 2022
Theatertreffen’s Stückemarkt presents new voices of authors from all over the world in various theatrical formats – from dramatic texts to performances.
3 March 2022Amelie Deuflhard to Receive the 2022 Theatre-Award-Berlin
The Foundation Preußische Seehandlung will distinguish theatre producer and artistic director of Kampnagel Hamburg Amelie Deuflhard with the 2022 Theatre-Award-Berlin for her special merits to the German-language theatre. The prize comes with a sum of 20,000 Euros and will be awarded at a ceremony during the 59th Theatertreffen of Berliner Festspiele (6 to 22 May 2022) by Franziska Giffey, Governing Mayor of Berlin and Chairwoman of the Board of the Preußische Seehandlung Foundation.
28 February 2022Cracow Declaration of Solidarity of Theatre Directors and Cultural Workers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland
The Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, since its earliest days one of Poland’s most important theatres, has found itself in an extremely difficult situation: a procedure for recalling its director Krzysztof Głuchowski was initiated. Midway through the term of his office, with no substantial, artistic, or legal grounds for such a dismissal
23 February 2022MaerzMusik 2022: Programme Update
Further details on the programme of MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues 2022 of the Berliner Festspiele (18 to 27 March) have now been published on the website: The opening “A Garden of Forking Paths” in the Gropius Bau can be attended at 17:00 or 21:00.
22 February 2022Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility
Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility revisits an exhilarating chapter in global modernism in Beirut.
8 February 2022The Selection of 10 Productions
In an online press conference today, 3 February 2022, the Theatertreffen-jury and festival director Yvonne Büdenhölzer presented the selection of ten remarkable productions from the past theatre year to be nominated for an invitation to the 59th Theatertreffen.
3 February 2022