Achim Freyer (; born 30 March 1934) is a German stage director, set designer and painter. A protégé of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

, Freyer has become one of the world's leading opera directors, working throughout Europe and, since 2002, in the United States, principally with the

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. Leadersh ...

. Since 1992, Freyer has developed a number of productions featuring his own troupe of performers, known as the Freyer Ensemble. Freyer staged a controversial production of Wagner's

Ring Cycle (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...

in Los Angeles in 2010, praised by many critics but criticised by some of its own stars.

Awards

* 1987: Kainz-Medaille of Vienna * 1990:

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 2000: * 2005: * 2007: * 2015:

Nestroy Theatre Prize The Nestroy Theatre Prize is an Austrian theatre award named after the poet Johann Nestroy Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy (; 7 December 1801 – 25 May 1862) was a singer, actor and playwright in the popular Austrian tradition of the ...

for his life's work''Nestroy-Preis 2015: Die Nominierungen''
(press release, 30 September 2015, retrieved 30 September 2015 * 2016:

Der Faust ''Der Faust'', officially ''Deutscher Theaterpreis Der Faust'', is a German theatre prize, a national prize from 2006. It is awarded annually by the organizations Deutscher Bühnenverein, , Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste and the stat ...

in the category ''Bühne/Kostüm'' (stage/costume) for ''Esame di mezzanotte'',

Nationaltheater Mannheim The Mannheim National Theatre (german: Nationaltheater Mannheim) is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18 ...

* 2022: Der Faust, lifetime achievement

References

External links

*
Achim Freyer
freyer-ensemble.de *
Achim-Freyer-Archiv
Archive of the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

Vita
Achim Freyer Foundation * Dorothea Marcus

(interview, in German, in ''Kulturfragen. Debatten und Dokumente'')

Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in the ...

19 January 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Freyer, Achim German designers 1934 births Living people Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin German male writers