Egon Hilbert (19 May 1899 – 18 January 1968) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

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 ...

. Hilbert was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

where he would later study law and philosophy at the

Universität Wien The University of Vienna (, ) is a public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest institutions of higher learning in Europe. Th ...

. In 1938, he was arrested by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and interned at

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. In 1945, he was made provisional director of the Salzburger Landestheaters and attempted a reorganisation of the Salzburg Festival. From 1946 to 1953, he was head of the Austrian national theater administration. In 1953, after a brief suspension, he resigned as director of the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ...

. From 1954 to 1959 he was he was chief of the Austrian cultural institute in Rome. From 1959, he was general director of the

Vienna Festival The Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) is a culture festival that takes place in Vienna for five or six weeks in May and June every year. The Vienna Festival was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the Participants in World W ...

, and from 1963 until his death, he was the director of the

Honors and awards

* Officer of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

* Goldene Ehrenmedaille der Stadt Wien

References

External links

*
Egon Hilbert und der Iffland-Ring

Wiener Staatsoper
1899 births 1968 deaths Austrian male conductors (music) Austrian opera managers Austrian theatre directors Musicians from Vienna University of Vienna alumni Dachau concentration camp survivors 20th-century Austrian conductors (music) 20th-century Austrian male musicians {{Opera-bio-stub