Stiftung Oper in Berlin
Unter den Linden 41
10117 Berlin
Telephone:
+49-30-20649-530
Fax:
+49-30-20649-459
For questions concerning the programms: Please contact the opera houses themselves
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At first glance and on the surface, nothing has changed: this season, there are crowds of people in front of the three opera houses evening for evening. A second glance reveals that under the surface much has changed. Indeed, in addition to the three operas – the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Komische Oper Berlin, and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden – two other independent entities are, since 1 January 2004, part of the new “Stiftung Oper Berlin”: the Staatsballett Berlin, and the new Bühnenservice, or service company.
For the three opera houses and the two new entities, the creation of the Stiftung means security for years to come. The Stiftung creates the chance, after years of sometimes paralysing discussions and upon the basis of clear financial terms, to concentrate again fully on the artistic work. At the same time, the fusion of the opera houses, with its contract which will reduce subsidies sharply, obliges them to make great efforts to increase revenues and thus to maintain the high financial and artistic level.
The Stiftung gives the individual entities increased independence. The three opera houses retain their autonomy with independent artistic directors – Kirsten Harms, Andreas Homoki, and Ronald Adler (Kommissarischer Intendant) – and independent budgets. The same is true for the newly founded ballet ensemble under the direction of Vladimir Malakhov. Even the Bühnenservice, in which the set workshops and the costume workshops are combined, work with its own budget. The accounting and the personnel department are also bundled in the Foundation.
The Stiftung relieves the financial situation of the Land Berlin. The agreed tapering off of subsidies until the year 2009 will save €16,8 million. This enormous sum can be saved because there is great potential for savings in the new structure: the new Staatsballett combines the resources of what had been three separate ballet companies. The Bühnenservice, which will offer all four other entities its technical services and craftsmanship, offers a similar concentration. In addition, a consolidated marketing strategy, in facilitating nationwide marketing, will increase profitability for the individual entities, thus partially compensating for the reduction in subsidies.
Above all, the Stiftung Oper in Berlin offers advantages for audiences. Long-awaited pro-gramme coordination is the established policy of all institutions, including the goal of having a performance at least in one house on every evening during the season. A total of 92 productions and an astonishing 772 performances await audiences in the current season; 19 opera and 5 ballet premieres will take place through the end of the 2004 - 2005 season. The large number of ballet lovers can look forward to the new Staatsballett, under the direction of international star Vladimir Malakhov, which is on its way back to world class form and will give regular performances in both the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden starting this season. Additonally, ticket sales will be consolidated: tickets for all performances in all three opera houses will be available in each of the opera houses.
Structure of the Stiftung Oper in Berlin
The Stiftung (English: foundation) combines the three opera houses, the Staatsballett Berlin, and the stage services company as individual entities under its administration as a legal corporation. The Stiftung is the employer of all staff and owner of the buildings: the opera houses, storage depots, administrative offices, and workshops. In order to accomplish its mission, the Stiftung will receive subsidies from the Land Berlin and the federal government. The Land Berlin bears the costs of building maintenance and possible construction. When these structures have been tested and established, each of the entities will become an independent corporation (GmbH), at which time the Stiftung shall perform the function of a holding institution.
Leading each of the four artistic entities – the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and Staatsballett Berlin – is an artistic director, responsible for artistic content, and a managing director, who is responsible for budgetary considerations and who enjoys the same decision-making power as the artistic director.
The stage services entity will be led by a manager.
These nine representatives – four artistic directors, four managing directors, and the manager of the stage services entity – form, together with a general director who has yet to be determined, the Stiftung’s board of directors. This board monitors the budgets and programmes of the three opera houses and the Staatsballett, prepares wage agreements and service contracts, promotes consolidated marketing strategies, and issues guidelines for the individual entities.
The general director plays a very important role in this body. He or she represents the Stiftung, manages business and has great decision-making powers. Indeed, the board of directors can make no decision against his or her veto.
The Stiftung’s board of directors is also held accountable by the Stiftung’s advisory board which oversees it and gives it counsel. The advisory board has seven members that meet regularly, including, as chairman, the Kultursenator Klaus Wowereit, along with Finanzsenator Ulrich Nußbaum, four experts in artistic and economic fields to be selected by the parliament, and an employee representative. For the period ending in 2008, RBB Director-General Dagmar Reim, the former Artistic Director Sir Peter Jonas of the Bayerische Staatsoper, Heike Kramer of the Sparkassenverband and Giroverband, as well as Hans-Kornel Krings of the Dresdner Bank have been selected for the advisory board, which in turn appoints artistic directors, general musical directors, general managers, and the general director.
Several of the Stiftung’s board of directors’ decisions must be approved by the advisory board: these include those regarding economic plans, new wage agreements, service and business agreements, as well as the sale of assets and the leasing of real estate. The chairman of the advisory board, as well as the Finanzsenator have a veto right in decisions on budgetary matters. The chairman of the advisory board (in this case the Kultursenator) cannot be outvoted in the appointment of a general director.
This organisational structure, with a general director at its head, a board of directors as decision-making body, and an advisory board as providing consultative oversight, places the new Stiftung Oper in Berlin upon a solid foundation with great decision-making power. What at first glance appears to be a formality, is in fact an important step toward even greater public acceptance.
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