Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe

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The Badische Staatstheater Karlsruhe is a theatre and opera house in Karlsruhe, Germany. It has existed in its present form and place at Ettlinger Tor, since 1975. Achim Thorwald has been the intendant there since summer of 2002.

The Staatstheater comprises the Sparten music theatre, ballet and theatre, as well as the studio stage in Karlstraße. The Badische Staatskapelle (orchestra) and the Badische Staatsopernchor (opera chorus) are attached to the theatre.

[edit] History

The first predecessor of the Badischen Staatstheater was built in 1808 by the then city architect Friedrich Weinbrenner, near the castle. In 1810 it became the Großherzoglichen Hoftheater (court theatre).

A fire broke out during a performance on February 28, 1847, in which the building, which had been built mostly from wood and canvas, was completely destroyed. Because the theatre doors could not be opened from the inside, only a few members of the audience were able to escape. The replacement theatre, built by court architect Heinrich Hübsch, was finished in 1853, and opened under the direction of Eduard Devrient.

During an aerial bombardment in 1944, the Hoftheatre was destroyed again, and the site is now occupied by the Federal Constitutional Court. It took until 1964 for plans to be drawn up for the building which exists today, having been finished in 1975.

Since 1977, the works of baroque composer Georg Friedrich Händel have been presented in a special format each year: between 1978 and 1984, "Händel days" took place. In 1985, these became the Händel Festival, which occurs yearly in February (on the birthday of the composer, February 23); the thirtieth anniversary was celebrated in 2007.