Uwe Eric Laufenberg

Uwe Eric Laufenberg (born 11 December 1960) is a German actor, stage director for play and opera, and theatre manager who has directed at international opera houses and festivals, such as '' Elektra'' at the Vienna State Opera and '' Parsifal'' at the Bayreuth Festival.

He was ''Intendant'' of the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, the Cologne Opera, and has been Intendant of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from 2014, where he staged Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'', presented at the Internationale Maifestspiele 2017.

Career

Born in Cologne, he studied from 1981 to 1983 at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen. He was an assistant of Ruth Berghaus, Rudolf Noelte, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Peter Stein, among others. He worked first in 1983 at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. From 1985, he was an actor and ''Regieassistent'' (assistant of the stage director) at the Schauspiel Frankfurt. He directed from 1988 's ''Pfingstläuten'', '' Die Gerechten'' by Albert Camus, Rainald Goetz' ''Krieg'', Ferdinand Bruckner's ' and ''Rückkehr in die Wüste'' by Bernard Marie Koltès.

In 1990, Laufenberg moved to the Theater Köln, where he directed Tankred Dorst's ', Dürrenmatt's ''Der Besuch der alten Dame'' and Goethe's '' Clavigo'', among others. From 1992, he directed operas at international locations, such as '' Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss at La Monnaie, Smetana's '' Die verkaufte Braut'' at the Volksoper Wien, and Puccini's '' Tosca'' at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He directed Ernst Krenek's ''Karl V.'' for the Bregenzer Festspiele 2008, and Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Peking.

From 2004 to 2009, Laufenberg was ''Intendant'' (General Manager) of the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam. He designed the concept ''Potsdam unterwegs'' (Potsdam on the road), presenting a production at various locations of the town. From the 2009/10 season, he managed the Cologne Opera. He staged a Mozart cycle of ''Don Giovanni'', '' Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and '' La clemenza di Tito''. The house earned the title '' Opernhaus des Jahres'' (Opera house of the year) in 2012.Zeit online, dpa Newsticker 1 October 2012. He canceled his contract the same year. He wrote a novel about his experiences, titled ''Palermo'' and published in 2013.

From 2013 to 2015, Laufenberg directed for the Linz Opera Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'', conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. He has been ''Intendant'' of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from the 2014/15 season. His first production there was '' Die Frau ohne Schatten'' by Richard Strauss.

In 2015 he staged '' Elektra'' by Strauss at the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Mikko Franck. He directed at the Bayreuth Festival of 2016 a new production of '' Parsifal''.

His focus in Wiesbaden in the 2016/17 season has been again Wagner's ''Ring des Nibelungen'', staged by him based on his Linz version, and conducted by Alexander Joel. It was presented twice during the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden 2017, conducted by Alexander Joel. Among the soloists were the Bayreuth singers Evelyn Herlitzius as Brünnhilde and Andreas Schager as both Siegmund and Siegfried. Sabina Cvilak appeared as Sieglinde, and Egils Silins as Wotan..

References

Literature

* Uwe Eric Laufenberg: ''Palermo''. Strauss Medien, Potsdam 2013, .

External links

*

Alle Artikel kategorisiert unter Uwe Eric Laufenberg
(in German) '' neue musikzeitung''

Uwe Eric Laufenberg
Operabase

Uwe Eric Laufenberg
onlystage.co.uk


''Der Opernfreund''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laufenberg, Uwe Eric
20th-century German male actors
German theatre directors
German opera directors
Opera managers
1960 births
Living people