London  - Nearly 90 years after its triumphant premiere in German, Erich Korngold's opera Die tote Stadt has been received with acclaim at its first-ever staging in Britain at London's Covent Garden opera house.

German conductor Ingo Metzmacher, principal conductor and artistic director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, Tuesday made his own debut at London's leading opera house conducting the opera that was premiered simultaneously in Hamburg and Cologne in December, 1920.

Enjoying great success in German-speaking countries throughout the 1920s, and already in 1921 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the opera was subsequently banned by the Nazis because of Korngold's Jewish ancestry.

The Austrian composer left Vienna to make a name for himself as a film composer in Hollywood where he died in 1957 and is buried.

The Covent Garden production by German director Willy Decker was first seen at the Salzburg Festival and at the Vienna State Opera in 2004. (dpa)