Frank Gersthofer

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Frank Gersthofer (born November 7, 1940 in Plauen ; † August 5, 2011 at Lake Constance ) was a German director , dramaturge and opera singer ( baritone ).

Life

Gersthofer grew up in Plauen, Styria , Berlin and Wiesbaden . He attended Gutenberg High School in Wiesbaden and graduated from high school in 1961. He studied philosophy , German , theater studies and history at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz . At the same time he studied singing with Ewald Böhmer (baritone) and from 1968 with Karl Liebl (tenor) and attended the opera school of the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz (director: Pavel Fieber ) until 1971.

From 1969 to 1971 Frank Gersthofer trained as a secondary school teacher at the Kaiserslautern study seminar , but then took up the stage career in 1971, for which he had already gained experience from 1963 at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden .

As a lyrical baritone and cavalier baritone - his first role was Count Luna in Giuseppe Verdi's opera The Troubadour - he remained loyal to his first stage in the theater, the Pforzheim City Theater , in many main roles in operas, operettas and musicals. Then after nine years he moved to the executive floor of the theater. Under Artistic Director Glado von May he worked as chief dispatcher and deputy artistic director from 1980 to 1991 at the Stadttheater St. Gallen . He was primarily responsible for the singer line-ups and engagements and initiated numerous prominent stage careers. Many musical program ideas came from Gersthofer, who was also able to distinguish himself as a dramaturge thanks to his university and conservatory training. Gersthofer also appeared as a singer during his engagement at the St. Gallen City Theater. In the 1982/83 season he appeared as Lord Tristan Mickleford in a new production of the opera Martha . As a partner of Elisabeth Glauser in the title role he assumed in the season 1983/84 the Junius in the opera The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten . In the 1984/85 season he sang the Marchese di Calatrava in the new production of the opera La forza del destino . In the 1988/89 season he interpreted the role of literature professor Mr. Lavender-Gas in the opera Help, Help, the Globolinks by Gian-Carlo Menotti at the St. Gallen Theater . In the 1989/90 season he took over the poet Pacuvio in a new production of the opera Die Liebesprobe .

From 1991 to 1997 Gersthofer was his personal advisor under Artistic Director Pavel Fieber, as well as operations director and chief dispatcher at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern . He was also on the stage again and again , also in large roles from the Figaro Count to the garbage driver Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady . His first impressive role was the title role in the musical The Man of La Mancha in March 1992 . In the opening premiere of the 1992/93 season, the roles of Hermann and Schlemihl in Hoffmann's Tales by Jacques Offenbach followed in September 1992 . In January 1993 he sang the comic role of Pacuvio in the premiere of the opera Die Liebesprobe ( La pietra del paragone ) by Gioacchino Rossini . In January 1994 he created the theater director in the world premiere of the opera Dracula or Die gefesselte Ballerina by Richard Farber . In the 1995/96 season he took on the role of Baron Weps in a new production of the operetta The Bird Dealer by Carl Zeller . In the 1995/96 season he also performed the court secretary Tschao in the opera Der Kreidekreis by Alexander Zemlinsky . In December 1996 he was also "a convincing buffo-style La Rocca" in the opera König for a day by Giuseppe Verdi .

In addition, Gersthofer had the artistic and organizational task of preparing the Pfalztheater for its new venue. In 1995 the new house was opened musically with Tannhäuser . Even in the six years of his time at the theater in Kaiserslautern, Gersthofer again succeeded in attracting a remarkable quality of singers to the house.

With the 1997/98 season Gersthofer moved to the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe . Under Pavel Fieber as general director, Gersthofer became chief music dramaturge and deputy opera director. Until 2002 he had a largely free hand in musical theater and was able to realize many program ideas. Gersthofer continued to work as an opera singer during his time in Karlsruhe. Among other things, he took over Abner in the oratorio Saul by Georg Friedrich Händel , the Zizel in the opera If I Were King by Adolphe Adam , the prison director Frank in the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss and the butcher Lazar at the Handel Festival in 1999 Wolf in the musical Anatevka by Jerry Bock . Other roles in Karlsruhe were the Junker in Der Schatzgräber (1999) and First Shepherd in Daphne (2002).

From baritone to bass and actor, Gersthofer has appeared in well over 120 roles and roles on the stages of the following theaters: Wiesbaden State Theater, Pforzheim City Theater, Münster City Theater, St. Gallen City Theater, Regensburg City Theater , Hamburg State Opera , Salzburg State Theater , Kaiserslautern Palatinate Theater , Ludwigshafen Palace , Theater Winterthur, Teatro La Zarzuela Madrid, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen , Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Staatstheater Kassel , Semperoper Dresden , Oper Leipzig (MuKo), Theater Konstanz and Opernhaus Halle .

In 1988 he took over the speaking role of Bassa Selim at the Teatro Lirico Nacional La Zarzuela in Madrid in the singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .

In 1989 he made a guest appearance at the Versailles Opera Festival, and also appeared at the Luisenburg Festival in Wunsiedel , at the Heidenheim Opera Festival (including 2004 in La traviata ) and at the Mayen Castle Festival.

After 2002 without a permanent commitment and since 2005 retired in the Palatinate , Gersthofer continued to work as a guest at theaters and at festivals. In the 2004/05 season he had a guest engagement at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern . He also advised State Opera director Ulrich Peters from the State Theater on Gärtnerplatz in Munich on casting questions in 2006/2007 . In July 2008 he again sang Lazar Wolf in Anatevka at the Konstanz Theater . In October 2008 he took over the roles of Benoit and Alcindoro in the new production of Puccini's opera La Bohème at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern in a new production of the Hagen in the operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen by Oscar Straus and from October to December 2010 .

Frank Gersthofer had five children from two marriages and was a grandfather of three.

literature

  • Gersthofer, Frank: Culture from the concrete palace: Stadttheater St. Gallen , in: Spektrum St. Gallen, 1985, 2, pp. 37–41.
  • Axel Schniederjürgen (Ed.): Kürschner's Musicians Handbook 2006 . Soloists, conductors, composers, university professors. 5th edition. KG Saur / De Gruyter. Munich 2006. Page 139. ISBN 978-3-59824-212-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Opera 1983 , yearbook of the magazine Opernwelt , documentation, p. 132
  2. ^ Opernwelt , issue No. 4/1983. Performance review On the surface by Gerold Fierz, page 37/38.
  3. ↑ Orpheus , issue no. 2/1984, performance review by JLS: Gelungener Britten , pp. 131/132
  4. ↑ Orpheus , issue No. 11/1984, performance review by Henry Belt: Opernglück , pp. 856/857
  5. ^ Opernwelt , issue No. 7/1989. Performance review Connections rather coincidence by Gerold Fierz, page 34/35.
  6. ^ MW Essinger: ST. GALLEN: The love test . Performance tricks. In: Opera glasses . Issue May 1990. Page 39.
  7. ^ Opera 1991 , yearbook of the magazine Opernwelt , documentation 1991/1992, p. 104
  8. ↑ Orpheus , issue No. 3/1992, cast p. 27
  9. ↑ Opernwelt , edition No. 11/1992, performance review by Gabor Halasz: New beginning with a new GMD , p. 42/43
  10. ↑ Opernwelt , issue No. 4/1993, performance review by Gabor Halasz: Approach values , pp. 37/38
  11. ^ Opernwelt , issue no. 3/1994, performance review by Gabor Halasz: Musikalisch bieder , p. 49/50
  12. ↑ Orpheus , issue No. 4/1996, cast on p. 28
  13. ↑ opera world ; Issue No. 6/1996; Performance review by Gabor Halasz: Kulissenzauber , p. 50.
  14. ↑ Orpheus , issue No. 2/1997, performance review by Kurt Osterwald: Buffa-Born out of pain , p. 23
  15. ↑ Oper 1997 , yearbook of Opernwelt magazine , documentation 1997/1998, p. 131
  16. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1997 to 2002 seasons  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.operone.de
  17. ↑ A huge disappointment . Review of online music magazine from February 20, 1999
  18. ↑ Culture in Karlsruhe  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Press releases for December 2001 and January 2002@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.stadt-karlsruhe.de  
  19. ↑ Culture in Karlsruhe ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Press releases of the cultural department of the city of Karlsruhe together with the working group cultural public relations for the period December 1997 to January 1998  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www1.karlsruhe.de
  20. ^ Karlsruhe, Badisches Staatstheater casts. Retrieved October 15, 2015
  21. ↑ The Abduction from the Seraglio ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Internet presence of the International Mozarteum Foundation  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mozarteum.at
  22. ↑ Sweet nostalgia . St. Galler Tagblatt from July 1, 2008
  23. ↑ If Adolf only knew ... ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Criticism www.opernnetz.de  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.opernnetz.de
personal data
SURNAME Gersthofer, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director, dramaturge and opera singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Plauen
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 2011