Reading libretti

The literature club of the Staatsoper Stuttgart

You love reading and are equally passionate about sharing your reading with others? You like going to the opera - or you're planning to finally attend a performance? At the Staatsoper Stuttgart's new literature club, we want to read libretti in advance and talk about what we've read over a drink in a relaxed atmosphere. In the coming months, there are several operas on the program that are not only musically rich, but also offer plenty of inspiration for discussion on a literary level. Texts by book prize winner Frank Witzel, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Friedrich Schiller and Bertolt Brecht form the basis of the performances in the opera house - and there is also a lot of literature to discover about these works beyond these texts. The hosts are employees of the opera house who are passionate about literature. However, discussions are held on an equal footing and collectively - because the participants decide together what will be read. Attention, limited number of participants!
Access to the side room of the canteen via the canteen entrance in the connecting building between the opera house and the theatre

Registration required via oper@staatstheater-stuttgart.de!

Hosts
Johannes Lachermeier (Direction Communiactions) and Kyra Palberg (Development)

Event is held in German
10.7.2025, 19 h: Gladis’ Resistance
If that’s not an unusual subject for the opera stage: At the center of our world premiere Der rote Wal is the female orca Gladis, who wants to take revenge on the human world and unexpectedly encounters an urban guerrilla group. A fairy tale, a political thriller, a parable? Yes, this "German Autumn Fairy Tale", for which rapper and singer-songwriter Markus Winter, alias Maeckes, wrote the lyrics, is all of these things together – plus grand opera, musical and rap!

In keeping with the theme of our production, this libretti reading will exceptionally not take place in the adjoining room of the canteen of the Staatstheater, but in the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg, where the exhibition “Stammheim 1975 – The RAF Trial“ is currently on display. If you would like to, you are welcome to explore it before the start of our literature evening.

Already fully booked, for a place on the waiting list please send us an e-mail to oper@staatstheater-stuttgart.de.

Season 2025/26

30.9.2025, 19 h: Annas Maske
The soprano Anna Sutter was a celebrated star of the Stuttgart court theater - and was murdered by her former lover, the conductor Aloys Obrist, in 1910. The fact that Carmen, the epitome of the femme fatale, was one of her signature roles adds a tragic twist to this femicide out of jealousy. The author Alain Claude Sulzer created a literary monument to the singer in his novella Annas Maske - and we open the new season with a review of this text.
17.10.2025, 19 h: In der Strafkolonie
Dark tropes, grotesque justice and the unstoppable maelstrom of discomfort: in the literature club, we deal with judgments that literally get under your skin, as Franz Kafka confronts us with a disturbing allegory of law and punishment In der Strafkolonie. For the first time, Libretti lesen will take place at JOiN following the performance of Apparat by the Prague theater Studio Hrdinů. Remember to buy tickets for the performance in good time!

18.11.2025, 19 Uhr: Die schlaue Füchsin

12.01.2026, 19 Uhr: Die Zauberflöte

23.02.2026, 19 Uhr: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

14.04.2026, 19 Uhr: Dialogues des Carmélites

18.05.2026, 19 Uhr: Station Paradiso

23.06.2026, 19 Uhr: Turandot

Recommended Literature
Annas Maske: available as Suhrkamp Taschenbuch
In der Strafkolonie: available online free of charge or in various book editions, e.g. in the Reclam Universal Bibliothek
Die schlaue Füchsin: German translation is currently only available as Universal Edition issue
Die Zauberflöte: available online free of charge or in various book editions, e.g. in the Reclam Universal Bibliothek
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: available online free of charge or in various book editions, e.g. in the Reclam Universal Bibliothek
Dialogues des Carmélites: will be provided
Station Paradiso: will be provided
Turandot: available online free of charge in various book editions, e.g. in the Reclam Universal Bibliothek
Oct 2024
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
7
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Nov 2024
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
4
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
25
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Performance cancelled
Dec 2024
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
9
19 Uhr – 01:30
Side room of the canteen
Jan 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Thu
9
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Feb 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Tue
11
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Mar 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
17
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Apr 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
7
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Jun 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
2
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Jul 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Thu
10
19:00 – 20:30
Haus der Geschichte
Sep 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Tue
30
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Oct 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Fri
17
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Nov 2025
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Tue
18
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Jan 2026
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
12
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Feb 2026
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
23
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Apr 2026
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Tue
14
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
May 2026
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Mon
18
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen
Jun 2026
https://www.staatsoperstuttgart.de Staatsoper Stuttgart Oberer Schloßgarten 6, 70173 Stuttgart

Tue
23
19:00 – 20:30
Side room of the canteen