Kasper Holten (born 29 March 1973) is a Danish stage director. From 2011 until 2017 he was Director of Opera for the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
. He is Vice President of the Board of the European Academy of Music Theatre.
Career
Born in Copenhagen, Holten began his career in opera as a director's assistant to such figures as
Harry Kupfer
Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019) was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Fels ...
,
John Cox and
David Pountney
Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ...
. In 2000, at age 27, Holten became artistic director of the
Royal Danish Opera
The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first ser ...
. His work there included a highly acclaimed production of ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''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 '' Nibe ...
'', which was released on DVD as "The Copenhagen Ring". This DVD won the
Gramophone Award
The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and refe ...
in 2009 for Best DVD. He held this post until 2011.
In March 2011, Holten was named the new Director of Opera at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal O ...
, and formally assumed the post in the autumn of 2011 with an initial contract of 5 years. His directorial debut at Covent Garden was in February 2013. In December 2015, the company announced the scheduled departure of Holten as Director of Opera in March 2017, to return with his family to Denmark, after declining an offer of a 5-year extension to his contract.
Holten is the director and writer (alongside Mogens Rukov) of ''Juan'', a movie based on
Mozart's ''
Don Giovanni'', shot in 2009 and starring
Christopher Maltman
Christopher Maltman (born 6 February 1970) is a British operatic baritone.
Christopher Maltman was born in Cleethorpes and was educated at Warwick University where he received a degree in Biochemistry and subsequently studied music at the Royal A ...
and Mikhail Petrenko.
Personal life
He and his partner have two children.
References
External links
Kasper Holten profile from the Royal Opera House websiteTom Service, "Will Kasper Holten take the Royal Opera to the next level?". ''The Guardian'' blog entry, 18 March 2011IMDB entry on ''Juan''
*
ttp://univie.ac.at/ema European Academy of Music Theatre
Danish opera directors
Danish arts administrators
Opera managers
People from Copenhagen
1973 births
Living people
{{Denmark-bio-stub