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Lotte de Beer
When were you first enchanted by (musical) theatre in your life? And by what means?
I think I was seven and went to the opera in Liège with my parents. When I entered the auditorium and saw the red curtain and heard the orchestra tuning, I was hooked. The expectation that behind that curtain and in the orchestra pit a whole world would unfold just for me; that alone was the ultimate enchantment.
Why do people sing and why don't they speak?
We sing and search for nirvana. Will we find it? Of course we won't. But that does not relieve us of the duty of looking for it. The efforts, endeavours, attempts are the only things that matter.
What role can/should music theatre play in today's society?
What distinguishes us humans from everything else in nature is our tendency to almost compulsively ask questions about the nature and meaning of life. Theatre doesn't find answers, but here we can think aloud about life's questions. Sometimes we ask them confrontationally, sometimes we juggle them loosely, other times we may deliberately avoid them. Almost always, the music that resounds in the Volksoper is music from an earlier time. But the theatrical images are always from today. And what we tell are stories with eternal value. So we can reflect aloud on the past, present and future of mankind on a journey together.
Born in
Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Five to ten important engagements
Traviata Remixed with Operafront at the Amsterdam Grachtenfestival and the Pop Festival Lowlands, Les pêcheurs de perles and Jenufa at the Theater an der Wien, Il trittico at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mosé in Egitto at the Bregenz Festival, Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Der fliegende Holländer at the Malmö Opera, Lulu at the Leipzig Opera, Verdi's Don Carlos at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Le nozze di Figaro at the Festival International d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence.
Formative collaborations with these artists
Peter Konwitschny, Pierre Audi, Christof Hetzer, Rae Smith, Jorine van Beek, Thomas Hengelbrock
Debut at the Volksoper Wien
From September 2022 Director of the Volksoper Wien
First directorial work at the Volksoper: Jolanthe and the Nutcracker (2022/23 season)
Significant prizes & honours
2015: Honoured in the category "Newcomer" at the International Opera Awards (London)
2018: Distinguished Artist Award of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA)
2020: International Opera Awards - Nomination in the category Best Director
* Use of photograph (© David Payr) only for the purpose of current reporting on the Volksoper Wien.