Viestur Kairish ( lv, Viesturs Kairišs; born 30 January 1971) is a Latvian opera, movie and theatre director. He has made a successful career in Latvia and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as an acclaimed director of operas. The movies and plays of Kairish have toured in many European festivals.

Stage productions

After graduating the Latvian Academy of Culture as a theatre and film director in 1997, Kairish was appointed at the New Riga Theatre as a resident stage director. Since then he has set critically acclaimed plays both in Latvia and abroad. Several of his productions toured international festivals and venues, including the

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

(''Hotel Europe''), the

Hebbel am Ufer The Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) is a theater and international performance center based in Berlin. It was founded by combining three theaters in Kreuzberg, Berlin: Hebbel Theater (now called HAU1), Theater am Halleschen Ufer (theater at Hallesches Ufer) ...

('' The Serpent''), the

Festival d’Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vi ...

(''Hotel Europe''), and the Bonner Biennale (''The Dark Deer'', ''Hotel Europe''). He debuted in opera directing with Peter Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'' at the

Latvian National Opera The Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) is an opera house and opera company at Aspazijas boulevard 3 in Riga. Its repertoire includes performances of opera and ballet presented during the season which lasts from mid-September to the end of Ma ...

, receiving the Latvian Great Music Award for the Best Opera Production in 1999. Soon after, he staged Mozart's ''

Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...

'' at the

in 2001 which later on was transformed into the short-movie artwork for the 42nd

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. He joined

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

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 ...

project at the

with ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...

'' in 2007. He set the last three operas from the cycle which received positive reviews in respectable music and opera journals. The successful work on

's operas opened for Kairish an international career in opera staging. He has been invited to

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, al ...

, Oper Köln and

Staatstheater Darmstadt The Staatstheater Darmstadt (Darmstadt State Theatre) is a theatre company and building in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany, presenting opera, ballet, plays and concerts. It is funded by the state of Hesse and the city of Darmstadt. Its history began in ...

. His debut in

, the production of

Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' with Kristiina Poska conducting, was acknowledged by ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' as a "worthy contribution to a fledgling Britten tradition for Germany" and received many other positive reviews. Work on Weber's ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...

'' with

Markus Stenz Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Stenz has ...

conducting at Oper Köln was acclaimed success as well both from the critics and public, same as the production of Verdi's '' Macbeth'' with Will Humburg conducting at

. Currently, Kairish is working on

Arturs Maskats Arturs Maskats (born 20 December 1957 in Valmiera) is a Latvian composer and since 1996 artistic director of the Latvian National Opera. His orchestral composition, ''Tango'', received international exposure as one of the finalist works of the th ...

' new opera '' Valentina'' together with

Modestas Pitrenas Modestas is a Lithuanian masculine given name. Individuals with the name Modestas include: * Modestas Paulauskas (born 1945), Lithuanian basketball player and coach * Modestas Stonys (born 1980), Lithuanian footballer * Modestas Vaičiulis (born ...

as a conductor at the

with scheduled shows at

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

Work on documentaries and movies

Kairish has directed overall four

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and six feature movies. He made his debut in 1998 with the documentary '' The Train''. His first feature-length movie '' Leaving by the Way'' won

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

for the best feature of 2001. It was included in the official competition program at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and received an award for the best debut at the

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove t ...

the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. His fourth documentary '' Pelican in the Desert'' was on the competition at the Visions du Reel in

Nyon Nyon (; outdated German: or ; outdated Italian: , ) is a municipality in Nyon District in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometers north east of Geneva's city centre, and since the 1970s it has become part of the Ge ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, as well as received special jury prize at the Let's Cee Film Festival in

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 ...

. Kairish worked on the Latvian-

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

co-production '' Chronicles of Melanie'', a historical drama, released in 2015. He also directed the film ''Janvāris'', which received the

Lielais Kristaps The Big Christopher ( lv, Lielais Kristaps) is the highest award in Latvian cinema. Established in 1977, it is given out at the ''Latvian National Film Festival''. Due to different reasons, the festival has not been held in 1992, from 1994 t ...

award for best feature film in 2023.

List of works

Operas

* 2014 '' Valentina by

(

) * 2014 '' Macbeth'' by Giuseppe Verdi (

) * 2014 ''

'' by

Carl Maria Von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

( Oper Köln) * 2013 '' A Midsummer Night's Dream by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

(

) * 2011 ''

Götterdämmerung ' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as ...

'' by Richard Wagner (

) * 2010 ''

Il Trittico ''Il trittico'' (''The Triptych'') is the title of a collection of three one-act operas, ''Il tabarro'', '' Suor Angelica'', and '' Gianni Schicchi'', by Giacomo Puccini. The work received its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 Decemb ...

'' by

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

(

) * 2008 '' Siegfried'' by Richard Wagner (

) * 2007 ''

'' by Richard Wagner (

) * 2001 ''

'' by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

(

) * 1999 ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

'' by

Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

(

)

Stage Plays

* 2010 ''

Kasimir and Karoline Casimir is classically an English, French and Latin form of the Polish name Kazimierz. Feminine forms are Casimira and Kazimiera. It means "proclaimer (from ''kazać'' to preach) of peace (''mir'')." List of variations *Belarusian: Казі ...

'' by

Ödön von Horváth Edmund Josef von Horváth (9 December 1901, Sušak, Rijeka, Austria-Hungary – 1 June 1938, Paris France) was an Austro-Hungarian playwright and novelist who wrote in German, and went by the name of ''nom de guerre'' Ödön von Horváth. He was ...

( Latvian National Theatre) * 2009 '' Pinocchio’s Ashes'' by Jokum Rohde ( Latvian National Theatre) * 2008 ''

Heldenplatz Heldenplatz (german: Heroes' Square) is a public space in front of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Located in the Innere Stadt borough, the President of Austria resides in the adjoining Hofburg wing, while the Federal Chancellery is on adj ...

'' by

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizat ...

( Dailes Theatre) * 2003 ''

Die Dreigroschenoper ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

'' by Bertolt Brecht ( Latvian National Theatre) * 2003 ''

The Idiot ''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69. The title is an ...

'' by

Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

( New Riga Theatre) * 2003 '' The Serpent'' by

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...

( New Riga Theatre) * 2001 ''The Dark Deer'' by Inga Abele ( New Riga Theatre) * 2001 ''Margareta'' by Māra Zālīte ( New Riga Theatre) * 2000 ''Hotel Europa'' by Goran Stefanovsky (

)

Filmography

* 2020 '' The Sign Painter'' (feature) * 2015 '' Chronicles of Melanie'' (feature) * 2014 '' Pelican in the Desert'' (documentary) * 2009 ''Loengrins From Varka Kru'' (documentary) * 2006 ''The Dark Deer'' (feature) * 2004 ''Romeo And Juliet'' (documentary) * 2004 ''The Monument'' (documentary) * 2002 '' Leaving by the Way'' (feature) * 2001 ''The Magic Flute'' (feature) * 2000 ''The Wedding'' (feature) * 1998 ''The Train'' (documentary)

Awards

* The Latvian Great Music Award for the Best Opera Production for ''

'', 1999 * National Film Award for the Best Film of the Year for ''The Wedding'', 2000 * The National Theatre Award for the Best Original Play for ''Margareta'', 2001 * ''Spīdola'' Award for Unique Achievements in the Arts, 2001 * National Film Award for the best feature of the Year for '' Leaving by the Way'', 2001 * The Best Debut at the Raindance Film Festival for '' Leaving by the Way'', 2002 * FIPRESCI Award, Baltic section, best Baltic film for '' Leaving by the Way'', 2002 * The Latvian Great Music Award for the Best European music project for ''

'' (together with

Stefan Herheim Stefan Herheim (born Oslo, 13 March 1970), is a Norwegian opera director, based in Germany. __NOTOC__ Life He studied cello while working as a production assistant at Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. From 1994 to 1999, he studied opera directio ...

), 2014 * Special Jury Prize at the Let's Cee Film Festival for ''Pelican in the Desert'', 2014

References

External links

Kairish official homepageChronicles of Melanie official movie page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kairish, Viestur 1971 births Latvian theatre directors Latvian opera directors Latvian film directors Living people Film people from Riga Lielais Kristaps Award winners Theatre people from Riga