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The Komische Oper, predicated like all repertory companies on the uneasy relationship between the living and the dead, is on track to sell 92 percent of its tickets this season, an enviable figure for any house. In 2024, it was named Opera House of the Year at the International Opera Awards in Munich.<\/p>\n
But the state of Berlin, which is the house\u2019s largest funder by far, is sharply cutting culture spending, threatening the ongoing renovation of the company\u2019s longtime home theater and its annual operating budget.<\/p>\n
This season, those cuts have already led to the cancellation of one premiere, of an East German operetta adaptation of Oscar Wilde\u2019s \u201cThe Importance of Being Earnest.\u201d In Serebrennikov\u2019s production, Leporello holds up a sign in the second act of \u201cDon Giovanni\u201d dryly noting that a tenor\u2019s aria \u201cwas unfortunately cut due to the slashing of Berlin\u2019s culture budget.\u201d On opening night, audience members cheered and applauded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not safe in any way, shape or form,\u201d Gaffigan said. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting for our survival. From year to year, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d In an emailed statement in German, Christopher Suss, a spokesman for the city\u2019s cultural department, said that \u201cthere will be no halt to construction\u201d on the house\u2019s renovation project and emphasized that \u201cthe closure of this unique opera house is out of the question.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wouldn\u2019t comment on further cuts because the city\u2019s budget is in the process<\/a> of being negotiated. On Friday, Berlin\u2019s top culture politician, Joe Chialo, resigned his post<\/a>; his resignation letter laid out his opposition to forthcoming planned cuts that, he warned, would \u201clead to the imminent closure of nationally renowned cultural institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have never seen anything like it, where a company is doing so well, and we\u2019re terrified for our own existence,\u201d Gaffigan said. \u201cDoing as well as we are doing, I thought the Komische Oper would always be there. And one night you wake up and realize, \u2018Maybe not.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n