Opernhaus

The Opernhaus stands in Hanover as the house for opera, ballet and concerts of the Niedersächsische Staatstheater. Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves designed the late classical building, which rose between 1845 and 1852 as the Königliches Hoftheater. The ground it occupies once belonged to the city's fortifications. Around 1,200 seats fill the auditorium, and the house is wheelchair accessible.

Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro opened the stage on 5 September 1852. Opera and spoken theatre initially shared the building, until the drama moved to the Schauburg in 1925. In 1943 firebombs left the hall in ruins. Rebuilt in its historical form, it reopened on 30 November 1950 with Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Foyers in a modern post-war style followed between 1950 and 1964. Dieter Oesterlen modernised the house again in 1985. Lower Saxony increased its contribution after the war, and since 1992 the state has financed the theatre in full.

New music shapes the programme, and the Klangbrücken festival returns every year. The house has staged premieres of works by Johannes Brahms and Hans Werner Henze. In 2020 an Oper!-Award honoured the Staatsoper Hannover. Before the curtain rises, take in the classical lines Laves drew: they still frame every performance.