The season kicks off on August 30 with the concert "Summertime - Broadway in concert" with vocal soloists from the ensemble and the Hessian State Orchestra under the direction of Leo McFall. The program includes Broadway classics and songs by Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and others. The first music theater premiere in the Great House on November 1 is Giuseppe Verdi's "La traviata" in a production by Belgian director Tom Goossens, who is working in Germany for the first time after acclaimed productions in Ghent, Antwerp and Rotterdam. GMD and Verdi specialist Leo McFall is on the podium.

On December 6, the world premiere of the operetta "Alles Liebe! - A queer country operetta": the winner of the €50,000 Reinhold Otto Mayer Competition by composer Misha Cvijović will be staged by Anna Weber, who is returning to the Hessisches Staatstheater after Jacques Offenbach's "Fantasio". Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "Snowflake", which premieres in the main auditorium on 24 January, is a veritable feast of orchestral colors. Russian director Maxim Didenko reads this opera as a parable of a society frozen in social coldness and environmental catastrophes. Leo McFall is the musical director.

On February 7, "La Mamma!" continues the series of stage plays that seek direct proximity to the audience on the forestage. The comedy by Gaetano Donizetti in a production by Wolfgang Nägele makes the theater itself the subject and offers a showcase role for ensemble member Hovhannes Karapetyan as Mamma Agata. Director and stage designer Ersan Mondtag returns to Wiesbaden after "Double Serpent" - invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen 2025: with Walter Braunfels' politically and socially charged 1920 opera "The Birds", he stages a play by Aristophanes and explores references to today's utopian dreams. From March 21 in the Grosses Haus.

Marie-Ève Signeyrole's new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Così fan tutte" comes to Wiesbaden from June 17. The Frenchwoman, known for her virtuoso use of film on the theater stage, has developed a site-specific production in which 20 couples from Wiesbaden sit on stage in each performance and become part of the action.

The opening of the 2026 International May Festival on May 1 will feature "Tristan and Isolde", a work by the composer Richard Wagner, who is central to the festival. The production by Tiago Rodrigues, designed by the director of the Festival d'Avignon for the Opéra nationale de Lorraine, approaches this opera and its unspeakable theme of impossible love from a French and intellectual perspective.

Three productions that push the boundaries of what music theater can be and think in an interdisciplinary way will premiere on the Studio stage: the world premiere of "Isithunzi" by South African composer Monthati Masebe and based on a text by Afro Fiction author Shanice Ndlovu will take place on 22 May in cooperation with the Munich Biennale - Festival for New Music Theater. "Josefine", based on the short story "Josefine, the Singer or The People
der Mäuse" by Franz Kafka is an interdisciplinary musical theater piece by directing graduate Clara Freitag, which can be experienced from December 13. Kilian Bohnensack's double bill "The Telephone / Il combattimento" (Gian Carlo Menotti / Claudio Monteverdi) from October 18 will bridge the gap between the archaic and the modern.

The drama season opens on September 12 at the Kleines Haus by director Sara Ostertag, who continues her exploration of Édouard Louis with "Monique bricht aus". The German-language premiere is the continuation of his mother's story of liberation, which began with "A Woman's Freedom". Ostertag's works have been awarded the Nestroy Prize, among others. The multi-award-winning director Luk Perceval will be adapting "Mephisto" by Klaus Mann for the stage in the Großes Haus. Perceval is one of the most influential directors of our time. His works have been presented at the Berlin Theatertreffen and have received numerous awards (DER FAUST, Goldene Maske, Heddaprisen). The premiere is October 11.

From 21 February, the Shakespeare classic "Romeo and Juliet", directed by Charlotte Sprenger, who brings canonized literature into the present with her very own pop aesthetic, will conquer the stage of the Großes Haus. Sprenger has directed at numerous renowned theatres, including the Thalia Theater Hamburg and the Deutsches Theater Berlin.

Georgian theater director Mikheil Charkviani, who co-founded the Open Space art center in Tbilisi in 2016, will stage "Antigone" based on Sophocles by Roland Schimmelpfennig in the Kleines Haus. In his documentary works, he deals with political issues and resistance. The premiere is October 24.

Drama and opera director Jan Bosse will stage "Entrückt" by Lucy Kirkwood. The play about conspiracy theories and political mistrust in the (post-)Covid age will be staged at the Kleines Haus from November 22. Bosse was in-house director at the Deutsches Schauspiel Hamburg and the Maxim Gorki Theater. Four of his productions at theatres such as the Burgtheater Vienna and Schauspielhaus Zürich were invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen.

After "Woyzeck", Stefan Pucher continues his exploration of Georg Büchner and brings "Leonce and Lena" to the stage of the Kleines Haus from January 30. Pucher combines his interest in the text with a pop-musical stage show. His works can be seen at the Deutsches Theater and the Volksbühne in Berlin, the Thalia Theater and the Burgtheater in Vienna, among others.

Theresa Thomasberger's productions are characterized by their feminist approach to current issues and have been nominated for several Nestroy Prizes. With the German premiere of Anna Neata's "2Über die Notwendigkeit, dass ein See verschwindet" (2On the Necessity of a Lake Disappearing), she will be bringing a play to the stage from April 17 that raises the question of how society deals with femicide as well as environmental issues.

Hungarian director András Dömötör will direct a cross-disciplinary project, which will premiere on May 14. Dömötör has directed at Schauspiel Hannover, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Katona József Theater in Budapest and most recently made his debut at Schauspielhaus Hamburg.

The collaboration with the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts will continue in the 2025/26 season: With "Two Soldiers", directing graduate Julia Gudi will premiere a play by Maria Lazar, whose work was long considered lost, at the Studio from March 12. The two drama students Hannah Lindner and Kevin Krougliak will also be part of the acting ensemble as part of the Studio Year.

The Hessisches Staatsballett is bringing a milestone in recent contemporary dance history to the stage of the Grosses Haus right at the start of the season on September 6 with Sharon Eyal's "Corps de Walk". With its futuristic aesthetic and hypnotic soundtrack, in which techno beats and classical music meet, the piece tells of the seductive power of the masses. Almost 15 years after its premiere with the Norwegian dance company Carte Blanche, the work by the Israeli choreographer and her partner Gai Behar is being re-staged by the Hessian State Ballet.

Another highlight is the world premiere of "Cantos" by Polish choreographer Maciej Kuźmiński on December 5 in the Kleines Haus. In it, Kuźmiński develops a dance piece to the music of Simeon ten Holt's minimalist masterpiece "Canto Ostinato". The choreography spans a wide range of Henri Bergson's concept of "élan vital", reflections on quantum systems, pure mathematics and the poet Dante.

On April 2, "Become Ocean" by the up-and-coming Taiwanese-Hungarian duo
LEE\VAKULYA (Chen-Wei Lee and Zoltán Vakulya) will celebrate its premiere at the Großes Haus. Inspired by John Luther Adams' orchestral work of the same name, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014, a dance meditation on change, the force of nature and beauty in the flow of life unfolds.

In addition to its own creations, "Motion Creation Design" will be a collaboration with the "Expanded Media" course at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences under Prof. Thorsten Greiner as well as exhibition venues in the region on the subject of dance and artificial intelligence. The project will be presented in the form of an interactive exhibition series, which will also include live performances with dancers from the Hessisches Staatsballett. The kick-off will take place in March at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden.

In addition, a number of exciting guest artists will once again be on show in Wiesbaden, particularly as part of the 10th edition of the Rhine-Main Dance Festival from October 30 to November 15. Spotlight Artist is the top French choreographer Rachid Ouramdane.

Four of the Hessisches Staatsorchester Wiesbaden's eight symphony concerts this season will be conducted by General Music Director Leo McFall. The central works of these programs include Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 in D minor in the 1st Symphony Concert (September 3), Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 in C minor in the 2nd Symphony Concert (November 19), Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 3, which was composed in Wiesbaden, and Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 in D major in the 3rd Symphony Concert (December 17). Leo McFall will also conduct the traditional New Year's Concert (January 1).

Leo McFall has engaged internationally renowned soloists for this season, such as the pianist Gerhard Oppitz for Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto with conductor Anna-Maria Helsing in the 5th Symphony Concerto (March 4) or the exceptional guitarist Laura Lootens for a dance concert program in the 4th Symphony Concerto (February 11), which will feature the former 1st Kapellmeister Chin-Chao.
Kapellmeister Chin-Chao Lin returns to Wiesbaden.

French piano star David Fray will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 KV 491 in the 1st Symphony Concerto. Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy sings Mahler's songs from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" in the 2nd symphony concert.

William Walton's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra and violist Eleanor Kendra James will continue the tradition of presenting instrumentalists from the Hessisches Staatsorchester Wiesbaden as soloists in the 3rd symphony concert. Attilio Cremonesi is an established figure in the field of early music. He will conduct the Hessian State Orchestra at the 6th symphony concert (15.04.) with a program of works by Christoph Willibald Gluck, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Joseph Haydn, among others.

Leo McFall has invited a special guest for the 7th Symphony Concert (May 20) as part of the May Festival and Mahler's 1st Symphony: the former General Music Director of the Hessisches Staatstheater Jonathan Nott. He launched a global career from Wiesbaden, worked with all the major international orchestras and is currently Music Director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among others. His outstanding recordings include a complete recording of György Ligeti's works with the Berlin Philharmonic.

A concert highlight is the concert festival for the 8th symphony concert (June 28), in which all sections of the Staatstheater once again come up with programs and musical surprises on all available stages of the house. The theme "Planets" comes from Gustav Holst's suite of the same name, excerpts from which will be performed as part of the "Geteilte Pulte" project. In this project, amateurs of all ages make music together with the professionals of the Hessian
State Orchestra. In the concert, the choir of the city of Wiesbaden and the choir of the Hessisches Staatstheater come together for Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music" and Bruckner's "Te Deum".

Following the great success of "Mitten im Klang", this special format will be continued on October 1: On beanbags in the stalls of the Kurhaus, between the musicians of the Hessian State Orchestra, this time you take a seat in the middle of the sound of Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor. The concert will once again take place as an after-work format and in the morning for school classes.

The Chamber Music Association of the Hessian State Orchestra also offers a wide range of musical variety in seven chamber concerts, Christmas and New Year chamber concerts.

As a family play with live music and theatrical magic, "Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch" (6+) by Michael Ende, a children's book classic, comes to the stage of the Großes Haus from November 16. The production is directed by the renowned director Hanna Müller. The JUST season opens in the Wartburg on September 21 with the world premiere of the children's book adaptation "Die Königin die Frösche" (5+) by Davide Cali and Marco Soma. Musicians from the Hessian State Orchestra and actors from the JUST ensemble will perform the encouraging fable about equality and justice in a production by Ulduz Ashraf
Gandomi and with music by up-and-coming composer Laris Bäucker.

Emel Aydoğdu presents her play in the program "Nah dran! New Plays for Children's Theater" award-winning text "When Clouds Grow" to the Wartburg stage as a takeover by Junges Schauspiel Düsseldorf. The poetic narrative theater (3+) celebrates its premiere on January 15.

"Troy!" (10+) by Henner Kallmeyer deals with a topic that also concerns young people: Why are wars waged and how can we treat each other with humanity and love? The text won the Youth Jury Prize at the Mülheim Theatre Days 2024 and is directed by Milan Gather. It celebrates its premiere on 26.02. Mia Constantine will bring Liv Strömquist's graphic novel "Im Spiegelsaal" to the Wartburg stage for young people (13+) from 8 May: a satirical and entertaining look at beauty ideals, body images and social media.

With "Animal Farm" (from 18 April at Wartburg Castle) based on George Orwell, citizens of the city and surrounding area will have the opportunity to take to the stage themselves under professional conditions. Under the direction of Emel Aydoğdu, the intergenerational ensemble will develop their own version of this political story. They are also looking for music enthusiasts. The "Wiesbaden Band", in which Wiesbaden residents with very different musical backgrounds have already come together this season, will also be part of the production.

An extensive concert program for young audiences completes the offer: In the school and family performances of "Wann kommst du geschneit? - Ein Winter-Warte-Konzert" (6+) on November 9 and 28, the Hessisches Staatsorchester under the musical direction of new First Kapellmeister Paul Taubitz will transform the Grosses Haus into a winter dream.

On October 1, "Mitten im Klang" (11+) invites school classes to experience Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor up close as a seat-cushion concert. Two children's chamber concerts (5+) and the baby concert series "Brüderchen, komm tanz mit mir" (0-3 years) are aimed at the very young.

Numerous offers invite you to discover the theater behind the scenes, in a shared exchange or by standing on stage yourself. To this end, the Hessisches Staatstheater works in numerous collaborations with Kultur Mittendrin, Justus Wiesbaden e.V., the adult education center and the young open-stage collective Leader of the New Generation, among others.

This season, too, various clubs will make it possible to discover the theater and get creative together. For all generations, the offerings are as diverse as the themes. For example, the club "How to be a woman - Dance and act like nobody is watching", in cooperation with the ZONTA Club Wiesbaden, is aimed at interested women aged 16 to 60. The club "How to make impact" takes place in cooperation with JiZ (Jugend im Zentrum) and creates a space in which young people (13 to 18 years) can get to know and help shape theater.
can help shape the theater.

In addition, the School Theater Days from March 16 to 20 will once again offer hundreds of children and young people the opportunity to present their performances at the Staatstheater.

The Young State Musical under the direction of Iris Limbarth presents two premieres this season: "Jekyll & Hyde" (14+), based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a great musical by award-winning Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn and its abysmal story about the scientist Dr. Jekyll and his evil alter ego Mr. Hyde. It premieres on September 27 in the Kleines Haus.

"Alice by heart" (12+) by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater combines depth and lightness, because in the new work by the Tony and Grammy award-winning creators of "Spring Awakening", the story of "Alice in Wonderland" opens up a fantasy world for a young girl during the Second World War that helps her to cope with her threatening reality. "Alice by heart" can be experienced at the Wartburg from February 14.

The annual casting will once again give talented young people the opportunity to take part in upcoming productions on December 13 and 14.