To our disappointment, the Kömische Oper was closed for renovation. The Staatsoper was open, and the house was as classically elegant as ever. Our second night in Berlin we took in their production of “Idomeneo,” composed by Mozart at 21. The music was forgettable; the staging, clunky. For some reason, a mezzosoprano was cast as Idomeno’s son Idamante. Given that this was a serious opera, not a comedy like “Rosenkavalier” or “Fleidermaus,” where the “trouser role” is part of the fun, the casting was distracting. More successful was the Staatsoper’s performance of “Aida” that Terry, Jim and I took in. Although the staging by Barcelona bad boy Calixto Bieito was innovative to the point of being bizarre (the king attired in a blue and gold outfit and wraparound sunglasses, a chorus of gingham-clad women wearing clown faces with red wigs), the singing was so strong and the music so gorgeous (and familiar) that we could put aside our annoyance at the pretentious hip-ness and enjoy the show. Ketevan Kemokidze, who played the Egyptian princess Amneris, brought the normally reserved Berlin audience to its feet. The evening ended with six curtain calls..

The spectacle itself was great. Some of the best vocals I've ever heard (and probably will hear). I sat in the first row and enjoyed the show greatly. However, the opera itself clearly struggles to cope with its capacity, and that is, unfortunately, made very clear during the 30 minutes prior to the start of the show and, especially during intermission. With only two bars on floors -1 and 2 (if I'm not mistaken), the bars get absolutely flooded with horrendous queues. We got to the opera 20 minutes early, and by the time we got to the bar, I had to chug our champagne because the bells were ringing for the spectacle to start. The intermission somehow managed to be worse. As I was sitting centrally in the first row, one of the most expensive seats available, I was one of the last people to reach the downstairs bar. The queues were colossal, and by the time I reached the cashier, they were ringing the bell, so once again, I had to chug down my champagne and run up as literally one of the last people to make it back. That's €32 of champagne downed because of poor capacity management. I've been to the Opera Houses in Oslo and London and have never experienced such poor capacity operation. So if you plan to visit this historic venue, ensure you go significantly earlier if you don't want to stress yourself... and rush during intermission to ensure you're not placed too far back in one of their enormous queues. Alternatively, pre-emptively accept defeat and have a drink after or before elsewhere.

Went here to watch Tosca last week. While we were walking in the area we came upon this place and asked if they had any spare tickets. Lucky for us they had a couple of spares by the front near the stage. The opera was wonderful. The only difficulty we had was finding our seats because we don't speak German and all the information was in the local language. We finally managed to find the cloakrooms (free of charge to place your coat) and they also assisted us with finding our seats. Fantastic experience and can't imagine why I didn't do this the last time I was in the area.

This beautiful.building both inside and out like lots of Berlin buildings are rebuilt and refurbished. The inside is opulent but stunning. We saw Tosca and Marraige of Figaro, both we excellent productions. Tickets for top price tickets are considerably cheaper than the UK. One of my favorite opera visit in the last 12 years.

I went to the Staatsoper for a performance of Don Giovanni, one of my favourite operas. The singing was uniformly good; I've rarely heard the Catalogue Aria better performed. The production was in modern dress but in other ways avoided the quirks and excesses too frequently associated with Regietheater. I strongly recommend this production.