Theater Basel is the

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

of the city of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, which is home to the city's

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

companies. The theatre also presents plays and

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

s in addition to operas and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s. Because the theatre does not have its own

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, the Basel Symphony Orchestra is usually contracted to perform for opera and ballet productions as needed. For baroque-opera productions, La Cetra, the baroque orchestra of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, is engaged.

History

Theater Basel was founded in 1834 under the name Basler Stadttheater. The first theatre was designed by Swiss

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Melchior Berri. In 1873, work on a new theatre began which was designed by Johann Jakob Stehlin Jr.. This second theatre opened in 1875 and was used until it was destroyed by fire on 7 October 1904. Plans for a third theatre were soon made, but it was five years before the theatre finally opened in 1909. The fourth theatre opened in 1975. Kristiina Poska was the most recent General Music Director (GMD; ''Generalmusikdirektorin'') of the company, the first female conductor to hold the post, appointed in October 2018 and effective with the 2019–2020 season. She held the post for the 2019–2020 season.

Intendants

* Leo Melitz (1899–1919) * Ernst Lert (1919–1920) * Otto Henning (1921–1925) * Oskar Wälterlin (1925–1932) * Egon Neudegg (1932–1949) * Gottfried Becker, Kurt Horowitz, Hans Thudium (1949–1950; joint directors) * Friedrich Schramm (1950–1953) * Albert Wiesner (1953–1954) * Hermann Wedekind (1954–1960) * Werner Düggelin (1968–1975) * Hans Hollmann (1975–1978) * Horst Statkus (1978–1988) * Frank Baumbauer (1988–1993) * Wolfgang Zörner (1993–1994) * Hans Peter Doll (1994–1996) * Michael Schindhelm (1996–2006) * Georges Delnon (2006–2015) * Andreas Beck (2015–2020) * Benedikt von Peter (2021–present)

General Music Directors

* Gottfried Becker (1928–1942) * Gottfried Becker, Alexander Krannhals (joint ''Generalmusikdirektoren'', 1942–1949) * Alexander Krannhals (1949–1953) * Hans Münch (1953–1957) * Silvio Varviso (1956–1962) * Paul Jamin (1962–1964) * Hans Löwlein (1964–1972) * Armin Jordan (1972–1989) * Michael Boder (1989–1993) * Erik Nielsen (2016–2019) * Kristiina Poska (2019–2020)

References

External links

Official website of Theater Basel
{{authority control

Theater Basel Concert halls in Switzerland Opera houses in Switzerland Theatre Basel Theatres completed in 1834 Theatres completed in 1875 Theatres completed in 1909 Theatres completed in 1975 Culture in Basel Theatre Basel 19th-century architecture in Switzerland 20th-century architecture in Switzerland

History

Intendants

General Music Directors

References

Further reading

External links