Construction site concert in Berlin: With a helmet to the opera

Chief dramaturg Wolfgang Behrens explains that they were able to hold the construction site concert in the auditorium in June before it started. But this time it was banned because “the ceiling net, which is supposed to prevent the blanket from falling on our heads, has not been adequately maintained.” That's why the concert is now spectacularly taking place in the lower stage, below the revolving stage, "but don't worry, it's no longer there."

A small group of audience - the construction site concerts are rare and always sell out in no time - stands in the small foyer of the opera's administration building Unter den Linden, equipped with construction helmets, safety shoes and safety vests in the Komische Oper's corporate identity colors, pink or purple.

The group looks hearty and a little decadent, like extras for a construction workers' revue. We all had to sign a declaration that we are liable for any damage that may occur to ourselves. The Komische Oper building on Behrenstrasse, which has been closed since 2023 due to an urgent need for renovation, is currently not even remotely suitable for public traffic.

The Komische Oper Berlin will continue to hold concerts and tours on the construction site as long as its traditional headquarters on Behrenstrasse is a construction site. The safety vests in pink or purple, which must be worn, can also be purchased; the proceeds go into a building fund.

The construction site concerts were conceived as an original form of public relations work. At the same time, they are also ideal as an introductory format for music theater newcomers.

Pink and purple are difficult colors that really don't suit every person.

This becomes clear when you enter the construction site. Behind the construction fence, on which opera posters are stuck up to create a cheerful atmosphere, there is heavy construction machinery, barrier tape is fluttering, and the ground appears disturbed.

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We are allowed to take a quick look into the above-ground areas of the main building. Yes, there is definitely work going on here, the house is largely bare, stripped of all decorative surfaces. In the beautiful curved corridors, where people could once chat during breaks on plush sofas, empty walls and passages made of raw masonry yawn. At least the stucco was allowed to remain in the auditorium. The large chandelier has been dismantled and stored, the ceiling, from which no more plaster will fall in the future, has been suspended, and the stage area has been covered by a gigantic drywall, which will replace the so-called iron curtain during construction work - the same fire safety regulations apply as usual.

We then see this wall from the other side as we enter the lower stage, having been guided through basements that have been gutted to the point of desolation. In fact, the space under the revolving stage is also circular and its size is actually perfect for a chamber concert. A few rows of chairs for the audience, music stands for the singers and a piano provisionally furnish the area. You could almost find it homely if it weren't for the threateningly high roof space yawning above it. If even a small loose thing were to fall from all the way up there - maybe around thirty meters high - the construction helmet would no longer be of any use.

The artists don't look any different from the audience on this evening; they also wear helmets and safety vests in matching pink. A quartet of singers (Mirka Wagner, Karolina Gumos, Thoma Jaron-Wutz and Tom Erik Lie) are joined by the pianist Aleksandra Tarasenko and the actress Evamaria Salcher, who hosts the program. Its title “Metropol 26” refers to the Metropol Theater, which operated in the building on Behrenstrasse from 1892 and satisfied the Berlin audience's need for operettas and revues until a large part of the building was destroyed in air raids in 1944.

A small bouquet of melodies from the lighter muse, as they were heard exactly a hundred years ago in this very place, is on the program of the construction site concert, supplemented by music by Karol Szymanowski, whose opera “King Roger” from 1926 will have its Berlin premiere in January 2027 in the Schillertheater, the current alternative location of the Komische Oper. This creates a nice arc of content over the entire past century and at the same time discreetly underlines the historically justifiable claim of the comic opera to further continuity.

In the meantime, no one is talking about the fact that there had been loud discussions about whether it wouldn't be better to close the Komische Oper completely, given the enormous costs of renovating the building. But this is pain from the day before yesterday. What hurts today is the slow pace of construction. The construction costs are estimated at 480 million euros, but the annual approved construction rates are currently only 20 million. It is easy to calculate that a resumption of play in the main building for the 2032/33 season, as is still officially hoped, is only possible if this amount is increased very significantly.