Paul Flieder
Director, Journalist
Born in Vienna on 01/02/1953, he studied in his native city and began to contribute to the newspaper Arbeiter-Zeitung, where he worked as editor until his death. In 1981, he worked as an assistant director with the Graz Opera, alongside director Christian Poppelreiter. In 1983 he worked with director Götz Friedrich and in 1984-86 he was hired by the opera house in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. In 1987 he won the Walter Felsenstein scholarship and worked for the Comic Opera Berlin (Komische Oper Berlin). Since 1989 he has worked as a director and creator of poetic texts for operas staged in Hamburg, Berlin, Budapest and Vienna (mainly Vienna Chamber Opera – [Wiener Kammeroper]). He directed the opera Don Giovanni in Tirana and Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia, in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Culture. He has written the poetic text of the children’s opera Elster und Parzival, music by Paul Hertel. Alongside his activity in the theater, he directed television documentaries and in 2009 published the book The Barber of Baghdad [Der Barbier von Bagdad], on the Iraq crisis. He died in Bregenz, Austria on 20/07/2010. He collaborated with the GNO once, directing the opera The Flying Dutchman [Der fliegende Holländer] (Olympia Theatre, 1994/95).