Landesbühnen Sachsen

The Landesbühnen Sachsen is Germany’s second-largest touring theatre company, based in Radebeul near Dresden. Its home is the Goldene Weintraube building, a theatre that opened in 1950 with Puccini’s Tosca and Weber’s Der Freischütz. The company grew from earlier ensembles, including the Volksoper Dresden formed in 1945 by singer Emil Grotzinger. In 1951 actors from Schwerin’s Maxim-Gorki-Theater joined, and the name Landesbühnen Sachsen was adopted. Sculptor Reinhold Langner decorated the building with wooden reliefs of theatrical scenes in the early 1950s. The theatre is worth visiting for its long tradition and artistic breadth. It has its own orchestra, which once numbered seventy-five players and now cooperates with the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen. Since 1956 the Felsenbühne Rathen has hosted annual performances of Der Freischütz. The company also stages Karl May plays each summer, linking it to the writer’s Radebeul home. A bronze sculpture titled Wende now stands outside, created by Reinhard Dietrich in 2020. Inside the theatre visitors find a main stage and a smaller studio space for experimental work. Performances range from opera and ballet to comedy and children’s theatre. From May to September shows take place outdoors at Rathen’s cliff-top stage and at Moritzburg Castle. The orchestra traditionally ends each year with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on 31 December.