THE administrative building of the Komische Oper certainly isn t one of Berlin s more fetching. While commanding premium real estate on the storied Unter den Linden boulevard, the sombre edifice references a different epoch when this part of the world was known as East Berlin, and pragmatic Soviet architects were busy filling the yawning gaps left by bombs with concrete. Cheap indeed, but not altogether cheerful.
It is an incongruous spectacle, considering the company s success following Barrie Kosky s arrival as artistic director in September 2012. While many of the world s opera companies have begun to buckle all too spectacularly San Diego being the most recent the Komische Oper has reinvigorated its reputation and bottom line under Kosky s watch from this unassuming concrete bunker.