Alvis Hermanis is a Latvian
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
,
set design
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...
er and actor. Since 1997 he has worked at the
New Riga Theatre
New Riga Theatre ( lv, Jaunais Rīgas teātris) is a theatre in Riga, Latvia. It was established in 1992. Several world known Latvian directors have started their career in this theatre, like Alvis Hermanis, Viesturs Kairišs among others.
Di ...
( lv, Jaunais Rīgas teātris) as
artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...
.
Early life and education
Hermanis was born in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
and in his early teens he played
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
in
Dinamo Riga
Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU.
The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...
sports school. He was forced to leave sport at the age of 15 due to health reasons. He obtained his first theatre and stage experience when he attended Riga
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
studio under Roberts Ligers. From 1981 until 1982 Hermanis attended the Riga Peoples artist studio. He continued his education from 1984 until 1988 in the theatre department of
Latvian State conservatory.
Career
As an actor, Hermanis appeared in several
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s in the late 1980s.
Aside from at the New Riga Theatre, Hermanis has directed several plays in Austria, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and elsewhere, and a number of New Riga Theatre plays have toured the whole of Europe.
In 2003, Hermanis directed
Nikolai Gogol's ''
The Government Inspector
''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...
'' at the
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...
in Austria, which won the Young Director's Award. This success paved his way for a long-lasting career in German-speaking theatre, starting in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
and at the
Ruhrtriennale
The Ruhrtriennale (compound of ''Ruhr'' and ''triennale'' "lasting 3 years"), also known as Ruhr Triennale, was founded in 2002 and is a music and arts festival in the Ruhr-area of Germany which runs between mid-August and mid-October, and happens ...
, then in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. He has frequently worked at the
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...
, Austria's national theatre, where he presented
Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist.
Biography
Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy ...
's ' in 2011 and a new version of Gogol's ''
The Government Inspector
''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...
'' in 2015.
Around 2009 Hermanis adapted eight of
Vasily Shukshin
Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (russian: Василий Макарович Шукшин; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a Soviet Russian writer, actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altai region who specialized in rural themes. A ...
's short stories for stage in a collaboration with the
Theatre of Nations
The Theatre of Nations, also known as the State Theatre of Nations (russian: Госуда́рственный теа́тр на́ций), is a theatre located in the heritage-listed building originally built in 1885 as the Korsh Theatre in ce ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, entitled ''Shukshin's Stories'' (or ''Shukhsin's Tales''). it is still touring the world, and has won several awards.
Starring
Evgeny Mironov
Yevgeny Vitalyevich Mironov (Russian language, Russian: Евгений Витальевич Миронов; born 29 November 1966) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor. Merited Artist of the Russian Federation (1996), People's Artist of ...
, the play was staged at
The Barbican in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in October 2019.
![Trovatore Michelides 6710](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Trovatore_Michelides_6710.jpg)
Since 2012, Hermanis has also directed and created sets for
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
productions – first being invited by the Salzburg Festival to stage
Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...
's ''
Die Soldaten
' (''The Soldiers'') is a four-act opera in German by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, based on the 1776 play by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. In a letter accompanying his newly printed play (23 July 1776, aged 24) that he sent to his best friend, the Germ ...
'' conducted by
Ingo Metzmacher
Ingo Metzmacher (born 10 November 1957 in Hanover) is a German conductor and artistic director of the festival KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hanover.
Life
Ingo Metzmacher is the son of the cellist Rudolf Metzmacher and the research biolo ...
. The following year, again in Salzburg, Hermanis presented
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...
's opera ''
Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
''.
In 2014 he was responsible for a production of ''
Il trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...
'' with
Anna Netrebko
Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (russian: Анна Юрьевна Нетребко; born 18 September 1971) is an Austrian operatic soprano with an active international career and performed prominently at the Salzburg Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna ...
,
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, C.M., C.Q. (born June 26, 1975) is a Canadian coloratura contralto. In 2000, she became the first Canadian to win first prize at the Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition in Belgium. Lemieux has continued to p ...
,
Francesco Meli and
Plácido Domingo
José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...
. Hermanis transformed the
Great Festival Hall into a gigantic museum with moving walls and the singers into museum custodians and personalities from the paintings shown.
In 2015 Hermanis cancelled a production with the
Thalia Theater planned for spring 2016. In a statement, he also mentioned the theatre's position as a "Refugees Welcome Center" as one of the reasons.
Alvis Hermanis is married to latvian actress
Kristīne Krūze and they have 3 children.
Awards and recognition
For his role in ' he received the Best Actor Award at the
Lielais Kristaps
The Big Christopher ( lv, Lielais Kristaps) is the highest award in Latvian cinema. Established in 1977, it is given out at the ''Latvian National Film Festival''.
Due to different reasons, the festival has not been held in 1992, from 1994 t ...
festival in 1987.
In 2003, Hermanis and his theatre won the Young Director's Award at the
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...
with
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
s ''
The Government Inspector
''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...
''.
In 2007, he was awarded the IX
Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
.
In 2007 Hermanis refused to receive the
Order of the Three Stars
Order of the Three Stars ( lv, Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis) is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra", meaning "Thr ...
from the hands of the president
Valdis Zatlers
Valdis Zatlers (born 22 March 1955) is a Latvian politician and former physician who served as the seventh president of Latvia from 2007 to 2011. He won the Latvian presidential election of 31 May 2007. He became President of Latvia on 8 July 2 ...
. He eventually received it in 2012, when Zatlers had already left office.
In 2012 Swiss culture magazine ''
du'' surveyed theatre experts from 20 different countries and included Hermanis on the list of the ten most influential European theatre personalities of the past decade.
Europe Theatre Prize
In 2007, he received the IX
Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
, with the following motivation:
The founder of the New Riga Theatre, Alvis Hermanis has a fantastic memory for the details and objects of ordinary life. He is one of those few who appreciate the disappearing reality. He may not always love it but he does appreciate it. He looks into the past with a nostalgia tinted with irony and tries not to stylize but to reconstruct it. In his famous ''“Revisor”'' (Government Inspector) a typical Russian story was turned into a typical Soviet one. One can watch it and recollect the smell of Kasa, the occasional glimpse of a bright red slip peeping from under a loud printed cotton dress, and female faces changed by layers of cheap cosmetics. The real hero of this and many other Hermanis’ productions was time, a time that stood still. And it’s possible to say where. It stopped in our memory and it’s really difficult to part with it. It’s not worn out. The Latvian director was a young man in the Soviet time; he came to maturity when his country got independence. He looks at the former USSR simultaneously from inside and outside. And that’s why his look is both detached and involved. This double perspective imparts a surprising stereoscopic quality even to simple jokes. ''“Long Life”'', which has recently become a European hit, also appeals to our memory. Have you ever visited lonely old people? Do you remember the ugly heaps of shabby things crammed into their flats? They take up valuable space and air but their owners can’t throw them away, because their past life is embodied in them. In Hermanis’s production, those heaps are reproduced with talented meticulousness. Among their old photographs, rugs, plaids and battered sofas, five old people swarm, grunt, quarrel and love each other from dawn till sunset. They are played by young actors who keep a skilful balance between grotesquerie and realism. A passion for documentation and authenticity is a sign of our time - at least, of our time as it is perceived by theatre. It’s no accidentally that one of the most fashionable current playwriting methods is verbatim. Hermanis is also a master of verbatim but of theatrical verbatim. And hardly anyone can compete him today in this style.
References
External links
*
Hermanis profile New Riga Theatre homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermanis, Alvis
1965 births
Latvian theatre directors
Latvian opera directors
Latvian male film actors
Living people
Theatre people from Riga
Lielais Kristaps Award winners
20th-century Latvian male actors
21st-century Latvian male actors