His Handel productions Rinaldo, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Tamerlano, as well as Rigoletto and Carmen received high acclaim.
Even though Konwitschny had already directed operas in West Germany (Bluebeard's Castle, Kassel, 1987, and Fidelio, Basel, 1989), it was only after the fall of the Berlin Wall, that his international career took off.
After Lohengrin, Konwitschny returned to Hamburg to cooperate with the conductor Ingo Metzmacher on Alban Berg's Lulu, Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron.
[2] The Gothenburg Opera CEO stated in a press release that This is a house where one is allowed to be angry, have conflicts and to make mistakes.
Konwitschny later issued a statement to the press, comparing the response to the Spanish Inquisition and vowing not to return to the opera house.