The Threepenny Opera. Making of
Barrie Kosky inszeniert Brecht / Weill am Berliner Ensemble

A new Threepenny Opera for Berlin: In spring 2021 a new production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s globally acclaimed musical drama, directed by Barrie Kosky, and conducted by Adam Benzwi, premiered at the Berliner Ensemble, where the piece was first performed in 1928. The internationally sought-after opera director is not interested in putting on a nostalgia-fest revelling in the Golden Twenties but instead wants to give the story a contemporary twist. Writers Marion Brasch and Juri Sternburg and photographer Jörg Brüggemann, who were on hand as the production took shape, give readers an inside view of the work: onstage, front of house, and behind the scenes.

Barrie Kosky, born 1967 in Melbourne, has been artistic director of Berlin’s Komische Oper since the 2012/13 season. In 2014 he was voted Director of the Year at the International Opera Awards. His work has taken him to the Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival, Oper Frankfurt, the Zurich Opera House, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Bayreuth Festival. Adam Benzwi, born 1965, pianist, conductor, teacher. Jörg Brüggemann, born 1979, is a photographer—he has been with the OSTKREUZ agency since 2009. Marion Brasch, born 1961 is a writer. Juri Sternburg, born 1983, author, journalist, dramatist.