Born in Zurich, he began his career as a stage designer. In 1982 he made his debut as a director with Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Vienna Volksoper. This was followed by numerous productions for the Vienna State Opera, where he is a honorary member. He has cooperated with Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra Bastille, Palais Garnier, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Royal Opera House (Covent Garden, London), Bregenz Festival and numerous opera houses worldwide. In addition to operas by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and R. Strauss he has staged several world premieres such as Aribert Reimann’s Medea, Matthias Pintscher’s Thomas Chatterton, as well as works by Ligeti, Henze, Trojahn. He has given special attention to the revival of baroque operas as well as forgotten works by Franz Schubert and Frank Martin. He has collaborated with such conductors as Michael Boder, Christoph von Dohnányi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Jordan, Roger Norrington, Franz Welser-Möst. His book entitled Ich höre den Raum was published in 2010 (Henschel Verlag). // Last update: October 2019