Venue: Wiener Kammeroper
Town: Vienna, AT

Wiener Kammeroper is a chamber opera theatre and company in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1948 by the conductor Hans Gabor, it was originally named Vienna Opera Studiom receiving its present name in 1953. It is located at 24 Fleischmarkt Street in the city centre. It has been managed by Theater an der Wien since 2012. Initially, the company had no dedicated building. Performances were held at the Konzerthaus and at Schönbrunn Palace. In 1961 a subsidy from the Ministry of Education and the City of Vienna allowed the company to establish a permanent venue in the former ballroom of the Hotel Post on Fleischmarkt Street, where the dance hall was converted to an opera stage. The new theatre was inaugurated with a performance of short operas: Martinů's The Marriage, Giuseppe Maria Orlandini' Il marito giocatore, and Monteverdi's Lamento d'arianna. as adapted by Carl Orff. Early programs at the Opera House included opera buffa, operettas, parodies and traditional Viennese Singspiel, as well as chamber arrangements of larger works such as Bizez's Carmen and Puccini's La Bohème. Today, the focus is on premieres of contemporary works and the development of young performers. Chamber operas by Tom Johnson, Peter Maxwell Davies, Luciano Chailly, Philip Glass and Hans Werner Henze were premiered at the Kammeroper. The company has also staged rock operas that translate classics such as La Bohème and Carmen for a younger generation. Gabor retired from conducting in 1982 while continuing as the company's artistic director and manager. In 1983 the theater launched Studio K, a series featuring contemporary works and composers. In 1992 the theater began a series of open-air performances of Mozart operas at the Roman Ruin of Schönbrunn Palace. Conservationists determined in 1999 that the monument was in jeopardy, and performances were discontinued. In 1994 Hans Gabor died unexpectedly and Rudolf Berger continued programming. During the 1999/2000 season Isabella Gabor and Holger Bleck too