Claus Guth

Claus Guth (born 1964) is a German theatre director, focused on opera. He has directed operas at major houses and festivals, including world premieres such as works of the Munich Biennale, and Berio's ''Cronaca del luogo'' at the Salzburg Festival in 1999. Guth is particularly known for his opera productions of the works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. He has received two Faust awards, for ''Daphne'' by Richard Strauss in 2010, and for Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', both at the Oper Frankfurt.

Life and career

Early life

Born in Frankfurt, Claus Guth first studied philosophy, German studies and theatre studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and later theatre and opera directing with Cornel Franz at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.

Contemporary opera

Guth has focused on contemporary opera. He has staged several world premieres, some in the context of the Munich Biennale, such as Hanna Kulenty's ''The Mother of Black Winged Dreams'' (in a co-production with the Hamburg State Opera) in 1996, Chaya Czernowin's ''Pnima...ins Innere'', and Johannes Maria Staud's ''Berenice'', to a libretto by Durs Grünbein based on Edgar Allan Poe in a 2004 co-production with the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz.

In 1995, he directed Henze's '' El Cimarrón'' at the Atlanta Opera. He staged the world premiere of Berio's ''Cronaca del luogo'' at the Salzburg Festival in 1999, which is regarded as his international break-through. He went on to direct the premieres of Klaus Huber's ''Schwarzerde'' at the Theater Basel in 2001, of ''Unsichtbar Land'' with music by Helmut Oehring and Henry Purcell there in 2006. He directed the world premieres of Peter Ruzicka's ''Celan'' at the Semperoper in Dresden in 2001, and of Avet Terterian's ''The Earthquake in Chile'' at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in 2020. The collaboration with Oehring continued with his ''SehnSuchtMEER oder Vom Fliegenden Holländer'' at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2013, and with ''AscheMOND oder The Fairy Queen'' at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, performed at Schiller-Theater in Berlin the same year. He directed the world premieres of Beat Furrer's ''Violetter Schnee'' at the Staatsoper Berlin, and of Czernowin's ''Heart Chamber'' at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, both in 2019.

Other operas

Guth directed Verdi's ''La traviata'' at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, ''Otello'' at the Opernhaus Dortmund, and Stravinsky's ''The Rake's Progress'' at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. At the Prinzregententheater in Munich, he staged Purcell's ''King Arthur'' as a joint project of all courses of the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in 2001. At the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, he directed there Lortzing's ''Der Wildschütz'' in 1998, recorded for television by Bayerischer Rundfunk. In 2001, he directed Werner Egk's ''Der Revisor'', and in 2002 Wagner's ''Das Liebesverbot'' (in another co-production with the Everding Academy), and in 2007 an operetta survey, ''In mir klingt ein Lied. Eine Operetten-Topographie.'', in his first encouner with the genre.

Guth directed at the Theater Basel Wagner's ''Tannhäuser'', Weber's ''Der Freischütz'' in 2003, and Rossini's ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' in 2004 which was also presented in Düsseldorf and Munich. In 2005, he interpreted Mozart's ''Lucio Silla'' for the Wiener Festwochen, played at the Theater an der Wien. He first worked at the Bavarian State Opera in Verdi's ''Luisa Miller'' in 2007. Guth worked continuously with manager at the Opernhaus Zürich, on Gluck's ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' in 2001), Schubert's ''Fierrabras'' conducted by Franz Welser-Möst in 2003, '' Ariane et Barbe-bleue'' by Paul Dukas in 2005, ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss in 2006, and Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'' in 2008 and ''Parsifal'' in 2011.

Guth has worked regularly for the Salzburg Festival since the Berio premiere in 1999. It was followed by Gluck's ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' in 2001, In the Mozart year 2006, he directed a new production of ''Le nozze di Figaro'', conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and ''Zaide'', the latter combined with Czernowin's ''Adama'' in its world premiere. He directed ''Don Giovanni'' in 2008 and ''Così fan tutte'' in 2009. All three Da Ponte productions were kept on the festival program for several years.

In 2003, Guth staged Wagner's ''Der fliegende Holländer'' at the Bayreuth Festival. He staged all works of the Bayreuth canon: in 2007 ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' at the Semperoper, from 2008 to 2010 ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' with Hamburg's Generalmusikdirektor Simone Young, in 2010 ''Tannhäuser'' at the Vienna State Opera; in 2011 ''Parsifal'' in a production of the Liceu in Barcelona with the Opernhaus Zürich, conducted by Daniele Gatti, and finally ''Lohengrin'' for the ''inaugurazione'' of the new season at la Scala in Milan on 7 December 2012, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Guth staged ''Daphne'' by Richard Strauss at the Oper Frankfurt in 2010, which earned him the award Der Faust. He directed ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'' at la Scala in 2012, and in 2014 at the Royal Opera House in London conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

In a regular collaboration with the Theater an der Wien, he brought Handel's ''Messiah'' to the stage in 2008. The biblical texts of the oratorio were combined with an invented plot; the choirs (sung by the Arnold Schoenberg Choir) were combined with a stylised choreography, and a dancer and a deaf performer who expressed herself in sign language) were added as further layers. The performance was recorded by ORF and has also been released on DVD. Guth began a cycle of Monteverdi's operas in 2011 with ''L'Orfeo'', continued in 2012 with ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' and concluded in 2015 with ''L'incoronazione di Poppea''. In December 2013, he worked on another oratorio in a staged version, Schubert's '' Lazarus'', supplemented with further vocal works by Schubert as well as instrumental works by Charles Ives.

In November 2012, Guth staged Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' at the Oper Frankfurt, which earned him the Faust award again. For years, Guth has collaborated with the stage and costume designer . He also often works with the choreographer . In 2021, he staged Poulenc's ''Dialogues des Carmélites'' at the Oper Frankfurt, conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė.

Awards

* 2010: Der Faust for Strauss' ''Daphne'', Oper Frankfurt
* 2013: Der Faust for Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', Oper Frankfurt
* 2018: International Opera Awards (nomination)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guth, Claus
German theatre directors
German opera directors
1964 births
Living people
People from Frankfurt
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
University of Music and Performing Arts Munich alumni