Stefan Hermann Haag

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(26 March 192525 December 1986) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n singer; opera, theatre and television director and producer; lighting and set designer; and arts administrator. He was described as a “complete man of the theatre”.

Biography

Stefan Haag was born in Vienna. As a child he sang with the

Vienna Boys Choir The Vienna Boys' Choir (german: Wiener Sängerknaben) is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countr ...

and Vienna Mozart Boys Choir. The choir found itself stranded in Australia at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939, and he decided to stay. He sang baritone roles with the National Opera Theatre (possibly under the name Louis Waters) and later became a producer for the National Theatre Movement (1948–50). In 1950 he returned to Europe on a Victorian government scholarship to study arts production. In 1956 Stefan Haag became production director of the newly formed Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company, the forerunner of

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of ...

. In 1957 he directed its production of Offenbach’s ''

The Tales of Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died ...

''. From 1960 to 1962 he was opera company's artistic director. From 1963 to 1969 he was Executive Director of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. He later worked as a television and theatre producer and was artistic director of several arts festivals. He promoted successful productions such as ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

'' and ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' and promoted

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

theatre. He was also a director of the New Zealand Drama Council summer school. In the 1968 Queen's Birthday Honours, Stefan Haag was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for his development of the performing arts.It's an Honour
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External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography

National Library of Australia

''Sydney Journal'', March 2008

Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 1966

The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haag, Stefan 1925 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Australian male opera singers Austrian emigrants to Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Opera in Australia Opera managers Australian arts administrators Musicians from Vienna