The Regensburg City Theatre has been officially designated the sixth state theatre in Bavaria. At a ceremony on Friday with Minister-President Markus Söder and Minister of Arts Markus Blume (both CSU), Artistic Director Sebastian Ritschel and Managing Director Matthias Schloderer accepted the title on behalf of the theatre.

Unveiling State Theatre Regensburg

"This is a well-deserved recognition of artistic achievement and a historic day for Regensburg and all of Bavaria," said Söder. The upgrade will provide more opportunities, stability, and new perspectives for the artists. At the same time, the institution's creative and independent profile will be preserved.

The title "State Theatre" is "a well-deserved accolade for an extraordinary success story," Blume explained. As a theatre owned by the community, the Regensburg Theatre combines over 200 years of tradition with impressive artistic energy, the highest quality, and a palpable passion for its audience.

The Theater Regensburg is one of Bavaria's largest municipal multi-genre theaters, with its own ensembles for musical theater, drama, dance, and youth theater, as well as its own philharmonic orchestra and opera chorus. According to its own figures, it attracts approximately 180,000 spectators annually to its five venues, presenting around 700 performances.

For Ritschel, the title is "both an award and a mission - a mission that I, as artistic director, gladly accept together with the house, in order to further invest in quality and to expand what has been achieved so far in all areas," he said.

The theater will remain a municipal enterprise under the ownership of the City of Regensburg. In the future, it will be funded equally by the city and the Free State of Bavaria. Over the past five years, the Free State has more than doubled its subsidy to twelve million euros. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, this represented a share of approximately 42 percent. "Our goal is to achieve parity as soon as possible, meaning that the city and the Free State each contribute 50 percent," said Blume. A "Cooperation Agreement for the Regensburg State Theater" was signed regarding the future collaboration between the two funding bodies.

The Bavarian State Theatres currently comprise the State Opera, the Residenz Theatre, and the Gärtnerplatz Theatre in Munich, as well as the State Theatres in Nuremberg, Augsburg, and now Regensburg. The Mainfranken Theatre in Würzburg was also slated to become a State Theatre in 2022 following a major renovation. However, the renovation is now expected to be delayed until the end of 2029.

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