© dpa
Berlin's theaters and orchestras sold significantly more tickets again last year, but still fewer than before the pandemic began.
The institutionally funded theaters, orchestras and dance groups had around 2.5 million paying visitors in 2022, the Senate Department for Culture announced on Thursday. That was almost two and a half times as many as in the previous year.
In 2019, around 3.3 million tickets were sold. The Senate Department for Culture suspects that last year's figures still reflect the effects of hygiene measures and cautious behaviors adopted during the pandemic. "The fact that the theater and opera halls will now soon be as full as they were before the pandemic proves not only the continuing hunger for culture of Berliners, but also the admirable resilience of the people who work at the stages of this city," announced Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer (Left Party).
According to the overview, the institutions that sold the most tickets were the Friedrichstadt-Palast (around 430,000), the Berlin Philharmonic Foundation (around 230,000) and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (around 190,00). The list was then followed by the Deutsche Oper (around 170,000 tickets), the Komische Oper (around 160,000) and the Berliner Ensemble (around 150,000). The Deutsches Theater, for example, came in at more than 120,000 tickets, and the Volksbühne at around 80,000.