Willy Decker (born 1950) is a German

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 ...

, particularly known for his

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

productions. He staged the world premieres of

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...

's ''Pollicino'' (

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rome b ...

, 1980), Antonio Bibalo's ''Macbeth'' (

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, 1990), and

Aribert Reimann Aribert Reimann (born 4 March 1936) is a German composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', the opera '' Lear'', was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Diesk ...

's ''Das Schloss'' (''The Castle'') (Berlin, 1992). Decker was born in Pulheim near

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and was educated first at the Rheinischen Musikschule in Cologne where he studied violin and later at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

and the

Hochschule für Musik Köln ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

where he studied philosophy, theatre, music, and singing. In his early 20s he started work as an assistant director in Essen at the Cologne State Opera, where he eventually served as the artistic director. He went on to direct many new opera productions for major European opera houses, as well as for

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

and

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria ...

. He made his

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

debut in 2004 directing Korngold's ''

Die tote Stadt ' (German for ''The Dead City''), Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It is based on the 1892 novel '' Bruges-la-Mo ...

'' and returned in 2005 for an acclaimed new production of '' La traviata'' starring Anna Netrebko and

Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen. Villazón has published ...

. In 2005 he was appointed an honorary professor in musical theatre direction at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, and as of 2009 he is the artistic director of the Ruhrtriennale Festival. In 2010 he presents Wagner's ''Flying Dutchman'' at the parisian Bastille Opera, and "Tristan und Isolde" in Hong Kong.

References

*Cummings, David Cummings
"Decker, Willy"
''International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory'' (Classical and Light Classical), 17th edition, Routledge, 2000, p. 150. *Klinger, Thomas

''Freunde der Salzburger Festspiele Magazine'', April 2004. *Lash, Larry L.
Moses und Aron, Wiener Staatsoper, 6/15/06
'' Opera News'', September 2006, vol. 71, no. 3 *''Salzburger Nachrichten''
Standing Ovations für "La Traviata" in Salzburg
8 August 2005.

External links

Willy Decker
at the Ruhrtriennale Festival official web site. 1950 births Living people German opera directors Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin {{Opera-bio-stub