camps where they perished. 1945 – 1970s The opera house was damaged in an air raid in January 1944, and then almost completely destroyed in March. A new house for opera and play was built, completed in 1963 at the Theaterplatz (now Willy-Brandt-Platz). In 1952, Georg Solti became Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) and Intendant of the Oper Frankfurt, where he remained in charge for nine years. The Gielen Era From 1977 to 1987, Frankfurt Opera was led by Michael Gielen. This decade became known as the "Gielen Era", notable for the music of a conductor who was also a composer, and directors including Ruth Berghaus and Hans Neuenfels, whose productions of standard works such as Verdi's Aida and Wagner's Ring Cycle were thought-provoking. Operas which received their world premieres at the house were also performed again, including Franz Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. 1987 – present The stage of the opera house was destroyed by a fire in November 1987. The opera house was rebuilt and opened in April 1991. Many famous singers started their career with the company, including Franz Völker, Edda Moser, Cheryl Studer and Diana Damrau, and many established artists have been engaged there in recent seasons including Christian Gerhaher, whose roles here have included Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and his first Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Piotr Beczała in Massenet's Werther and Jan-Hendrik Rootering in Wagner's Parsifal. Since 2002, Bernd Loebe has served as Intendant of the company. The company's current GMD is Sebastian Weigle, since 2008. Weigle has made commercial recordings of opera with the company for the OEHMS Classics label. He is scheduled to stand down as GMD of Oper Frankfurt at the close of the 2022–2023 season. In October 2021, the company announced the appointment of Thomas Guggeis as the next GMD of the company, effective with the 2023–2024 season, with an initial contract of 5 years. Oper Frankfurt was voted 1996, 2003, 2015, 2018 and 2020 "Opera House of the Year" by the magazine Opernwelt. Städtische Bühnen Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) and Schauspiel Frankfurt (Theatre Frankfurt) are part of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt am Main GmbH. Artistic leadership The first conductors had the title Kapellmeister. From 1924 it was GMD, who often also held the administrative leadership Intendant (Int.). Felix Otto Dessoff (1880–1892, Kapellmeister) Ludwig Rottenberg (1893–1924, Kapellmeister) Clemens Krauss (1924–1929, GMD) Hans Wilhelm Steinberg (1929–1933) Bertil Wetzelsberger (1933–1934) Karl Maria Zwißler (1935–1936) Georg Ludwig Jochum (1937–1938) Franz Konwitschny