[2] Intendant Bernhard Helmich focused on the presentation of rarely played historic operas, such as Mascagni's Iris, Nicolai's Il templario and Die Heimkehr des Verbannten, Pfitzner's Die Rose vom Liebesgarten, Reznicek's Benzin, and Schreker's Der Schmied von Gent.

Vasco de Gama, an early version of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine, was named Wiederentdeckung des Jahres (Rediscovery of the year) in 2013 by the journal Opernwelt.

[1] German premieres have included Jonathan Dove's Pinocchios Abenteuer, and both Love and Other Demons and Paradise Reloaded (Lilith) by Péter Eötvös.

[1] Two productions received the German theater award Der Faust in 2007: Prokofiev's Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen, staged by Dietrich Hilsdorf, and the ballet Giselle M. in a choreography by Stephan Toss.

Its smaller stage in the east wing, opened in 2011, is dedicated to the performance of premieres and contemporary theater.