Kirsten Harms

[3][4][5][6][7] Afterwards, she worked as a freelance director, among others at the theatres in Bremen, Hanover, Kiel, Saarländisches Staatstheater, Darmstadt, Innsbruck and Mainz.

She also attracted attention with world premieres as well as productions of the excavations of rarely performed works initiated by her long-time chief dramaturge Andreas K. W.

At the end of September 2006, Harms came under public criticism for a unique act in the history of the opera world: due to a warning from the Berlin State Criminal Police Office as well as the Berlin Interior Ministry, Harms had two performances of Mozart's Idomeneo in the production by Hans Neuenfels temporarily removed from the programme.

The reason was an epilogue that the director added to the opera: The final scene shows the severed heads of Poseidon, Buddha, Christ and Mohammed.

In the 2004–2011 seasons, 38 productions of the Deutsche Oper Berlin were recorded for release on CD, DVD or broadcast on television and radio.

These include the complete recordings of L'amico Fritz (Mascagni), Oberst Chabert (v. Waltershausen), Marie Victoire (Respighi), as well as DVDs of Germania (Franchetti), Rienzi (Wagner), The Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček), Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna (Braunfels) and Die Liebe der Danae (Strauss).

In particular, a refined dramaturgy of the programme and the rediscovery of unknown great operas, mainly by ostracised or persecuted composers, became her trademark.