Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera)

Munich's main opera company was founded in 1653, and performs mostly at the National Theatre Munich (a postwar 1963 reconstruction of the original 1818 building designed by Karl von Fischer) on Max-Joseph-Platz. The annual Münchner Opernfestspiele (Munich Opera Festival) remains a hugley popular event every June/July. Kirill Petrenko has been music director here since 2013, with Nikolaus Bachler general director since 2008. For the record, operas are also staged at the Prinzregententheater (Prince Regent's Theatre, 1901), originally built for productions of works by Richard Wagner.