Since it’s inception, 17 donors have raised endowment funds of 17 million Euros for the private Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Cultural Foundation. Together with his wife Karin, businessman and engineer Reinhard Mueller becomes a new Foundation member. Music lover Margarete Stienen from Baden-Baden, who passed away in July 2006, leaves the larger part of her estate to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

In the first ‘Portrait of an Artist’ series, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden introduces French pianist Hélène Grimaud to the public with three different concerts on consecutive days.

The education programme ‘Columbus – discover classical music!’ has become a great success in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with around 12,000 school students having taken part in this project since it’s inception in 2002. Private benefactors enable students to attend classical concerts, ballets and operas with the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden providing school teachers with exclusive teaching material - compiled by academics from various universities - in preparation for the visits.

The recipient of the 2007 Herbert von Karajan Music Prize is Professor John Neumeier, ballet director, head choreographer and Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet. The honorific speech is given by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover, in the presence of His Royal Highness Ernst August, Prince of Hanover and the premier of the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, Guenther Oettinger.

National attention is focused on Baden-Baden with the first ‘Federal President’s Charity Concert’ held outside Berlin for the first time. Horst Koehler and his wife Eva Luise are given a hearty welcome and together with Baden-Württemberg premier Guenther H. Oettinger, are overjoyed to learn of the largest collective donation in the history of this event: 250,000 Euros are collected for children’s relief projects in Germany on this one evening.
The Festspielhaus Magazine is recognised as the best magazine in the media / entertainment / culture category at the largest European convention for ‘Best of Corporate Marketing’ (BCP) in Munich.
Russian wonder-pianist Evgeny Kissin is awarded the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize on 26th November 2005.

Following the success of ‘Parsifal’ two years earlier, the same team (Conductor: Kent Nagano, Director: Nikolaus Lehnhoff) collaborate once more to produce Wagner’s opera ‘Lohengrin’ for the Herbert von Karajan Whitsun Festival, again filmed in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. The Baden-Baden production is subsequently incorporated into Milan’s La Scala programme.

By doubling the festival periods, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is now able to offer large, great operas and classical concerts performed by internationally renowned musicians every season.

Husband and wife team Hella and Klaus Janson become members of the private Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Cultural Foundation. To date, the foundation has raised approximately 15 million Euros.
Head of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev, is the recipient of the 2006 Herbert von Karajan Music Prize, awarded on 12th July.

The ever increasing popularity of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden results in 120 international performances attracting and exciting over 220,00 visitors to Germany’s largest opera house every year. The enthusiasm for the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is also reflected in the development of the ‘Friends of the Festspielhaus’ society, which annually increases in size, now boasting more than 1,100 members. In Autumn, Dr. Wolfgang Schaeuble is voted into the position of Chairman, succeeding the founding Chairman Dr. Lothar Spaeth.
The artistic highlights of the year are the performances of Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”, under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado. The legendary maestro celebrates his return to opera by conducting this work for the first time in his extensive and impressive career.
Married couple Beatrice and Goetz W. Werner become members of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Cultural Foundation.

In January the second ‘Ring’ Cycle performed on the stage of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is greeted with critical acclaim. International press, including reviewers from the New York Times, enthusiastically report on an important discovery for the musical world. ‘Parsifal’, the second great Richard Wagner opera in this season, is also a great success. Filming of the elaborate Nikolaus Lehnhoff production performed in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is sold to television stations throughout the world, and released for sale to the general public on DVD in August.
The demographic of visitors to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden has changed. Now 30 percent of visitors travel from within a radius of 40 kilometres, 50 percent from within a radius of 40 to 120 kilometres, and approximately 20 percent come from further afield, both nationally and internationally. Married couples Anneliese and Wolfgang Grenke, and Mary Victoria Gerardi-Schmid and Hans R. Schmid become members of the private Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Cultural Foundation.

On 7th May 2004 the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize is awarded to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which shows its gratitude by performing a gala concert under the direction of head conductor Sir Simon Rattle.

The ‘Columbus’ education programme is established in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, a school project being the founding element. After an initial preparation at school, local students are able to obtain priority tickets for the relevant concert or opera programme for only eight Euros. Baden-Baden businessman Wolfgang Grenke   generously lends his support to this project as co-initiator, aimed at awakening enthusiasm and developing an appreciation for classical music amongst youths. From its inception, more than 50 school students show great interest in the project.
In the eyes of both audience and press, the artistic highlight of the year is the first cyclic performance of ‘The Ring of the Nibelung’, performed by the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre under the direction of Valery Gergiev.
The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Cultural Foundation initiates the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize with the associated prize money of 50,000 Euros, to be used purely for supporting and nurturing emerging musical talent. The prize winner determines how the prize money is to be used. The first recipient of the award on 15th June 2003 is violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.

An important milestone in the financial recapitalisation is achieved: the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden becomes the first opera and concert house in Europe to receive a ‘black zero’ by running the establishment entirely without public subsidies. It was able to almost double the number of private donors and sponsors from the previous year and over 800 members have since committed their allegiance to the ‘Friends of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden’ society.  In a recent survey of visitors, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden receives absolute top marks. Klaus-Georg Hengstberger and Horst and Marlies Weitzmann are welcomed as new members of the Cultural Foundation.

For the first time the 200,000 visitor mark is exceeded. The first in-house opera production ’La Traviata’ - for the Herbert von Karajan Whitsun Festival - receives national attention and acclaim. Following the intensive liaison and acquisition of private donors and sponsors, a Festspielhaus ‘support programme’ is established, based on the US American model. With the new concept of corporate design, the Festspielhaus is given a makeover. Sigmund Kiener, Wolfgang and Françoise Mueller-Claessen and Frieder Burda become members of the Cultural Foundation.

The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden records a considerable increase in visitor interest since autumn and the financial restructuring bears its first fruits. New members join the ‘Friends of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden’ society. The spell has been broken.   
The private ‘Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Cultural Foundation’ is established by committed music lovers Karlheinz Koegel, Ernst H. Kohlhage, Hugo and Rose Mann, Walter Veyhle and Alberto Vilar. For a symbolic 50 cents, the Cultural Foundation takes over all company shares of the operating company from the City of Baden-Baden. Chairman of the board is Horst Weitzmann.

The Herbert von Karajan Whitsun Festival presents ‘Idomeneo’ as a co-production with the Salzburg Festival. Two hours before the performance is due to begin, a technical defect causes the sprinkler system to discharge 40,000 litres of water onto the stage. Feverish overnight repairs allow the performers to give a triumphant performance the next afternoon.

With Michael Drautz as commercial director and Dr. Johannes Bultmann as director of the artistic division, the company management is strengthened. An internal three-year recapitalisation project-plan is developed to save the opera house.
In early 1999 the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden submits a proposal for public start-up funds of 6.5 million Euros to cover implementation of recapitalisation, the funding to be spread over three business years. Following positive plausibility checks of the recapitalisation plan by McKinsey & Company Inc, the start-up financing is provided. The recapitalisation programme is now underway with the City of Baden-Baden and State of Baden-Wurttemberg each carrying half the costs.

On 18th April 1998 the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is opened with a celebratory concert by Valery Gergiev and the World Orchestra for Peace. Even in the run up to the opening, public scepticism of the originally planned business model is rife. Due to management errors, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden experiences very little public sympathy or acceptance. Overpriced tickets are the icing on the cake. From the very first performance, visitor interest falls considerably short of expectations.
Due to this lack of interest along with insufficient capital resources, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden faces insolvency just three months after opening. An upward trend is not foreseen. The parent company DEKRA withdraws its commitment and offers no new capital input. Public scorn and mockery envelop the opera house. Managing Directors Dr. Rainer Voegele and Klaus Klein, as well as Artistic Director Wolfgang Goennenwein are relieved of their responsibilities.
Andreas Moelich-Zebhauser is appointed new Artistic and Managing Director, and as a sign of new beginnings initiates a spectacular free-ticket promotion for the Mariinsky Opera Festival. To avoid impending insolvency, the City of Baden-Baden takes over the company shares of the operating company from DEKRA for 50 cents.

The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden takes form. Hannelore Kohl, wife of then Federal Chancellor Kohl, has the honour of breaking the ground in a ceremony on 10th May 1996. The building shell is constructed in record time. Viennese architect Wilhelm Holzbauer and Stuttgart expert on the construction of public buildings, civil engineer Walter Veyhle, create Germany’s largest opera house with 2,500 seats. The construction costs remain within the budget of approximately 60 million Euros. Thanks to targeted contract planning, approximately 70 percent of the capital expenditure remains within the region.