Harry Copper

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Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (born August 12, 1935 in Berlin ; † December 30, 2019 there ) was a German opera director .

Live and act

Harry Kupfer began his career in the GDR in the 1950s . First he studied theater studies from 1953 to 1957 at the Leipzig Theater Academy . He then went to the State Theater Halle as an assistant director and made his debut there in 1958 with his production of Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka . From 1958 to 1962 he was senior director of the opera at the Stralsund Theater . He fulfilled the same function from 1962 to 1966 in Karl-Marx-Stadt under opera director Carl Riha . This was followed by engagements from 1966 to 1972 as opera director at the Nationaltheater Weimar and in the same position from 1972 to 1981 at the Dresden State Theater . During his time in Dresden there were many important directorial works by Kupfer, with which he became internationally known (including Schönberg's Moses und Aron and several world premieres of works by Udo Zimmermann ). In 1971 he staged for the first time at the Berlin State Opera : The Woman Without a Shadow by Richard Strauss . His first work abroad was in 1973 Richard Strauss's Elektra at the Graz Opera House .

From 1977 to 1981 Harry Kupfer held a professorship at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden . In 1981 he was appointed artistic director ("chief director") of the Komische Oper in Berlin . Here he advanced to become one of the most prominent opera directors in Europe and, among other things, staged a highly acclaimed Mozart cycle. In 2002 he said goodbye to the Komische Oper with the production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw . Kupfer received the Bavarian Theater Prize for the production .

Harry Kupfer has created more than 175 productions in his career; Strauss, Wagner and Mozart in particular were part of the core repertoire of his work. In addition to his work in Weimar, Dresden and Berlin, he made guest appearances during the GDR in Graz , Copenhagen , Amsterdam , Cardiff , London , Vienna , Salzburg , Barcelona , San Francisco , Moscow , Zurich and also in West Germany. At the Bayreuth Richard Wagner Festival , he staged the Flying Dutchman in 1978 and the Ring of the Nibelung in 1988 . Together with the composer Krzysztof Penderecki , he wrote the libretto for his opera The Black Mask (based on Gerhart Hauptmann ) and staged the world premiere at the 1986 Salzburg Festival . Harry Kupfer was also successful in the musical division . In 1992 he staged the musical Elisabeth in the Theater an der Wien . From 2003 to 2004, Kupfer staged Wagner's Ring again at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and was voted “Best Director” for it. One of Kupfer's most recent directorial work is Der Rosenkavalier , which he developed for the Salzburg Festival in 2014. In 2016 the production was shown at La Scala in Milan . His last production was Handel's Poro at the Komische Oper in spring 2019 .

Harry Kupfer has worked with numerous important conductors, including Claudio Abbado , Peter Gülke , Wolfgang Rennert , Gerd Albrecht , Hans Vonk , Herbert Blomstedt , Daniel Barenboim , Rolf Reuter , Sebastian Weigle , Colin Davis , Simone Young and Zubin Mehta . The scenographers who work with copper included Reinhart Zimmermann , Peter Sykora , Valeri Lewenthal , Wilfried Werz , Hans Schavernoch and Frank Philipp Schlößmann .

Kupfer was a member of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin , the Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg and professor at the Berlin Music Academy . In 2004 he was appointed director of the State Opera a. D. Hans Pischner appointed full honorary member of the European Cultural Workshop (EKW) Berlin-Vienna.

Kupfer was married to the soprano and singing teacher Marianne Fischer-Kupfer (1922–2008); both daughter is the actress Kristiane Kupfer (* 1960). Harry Kupfer died in Berlin at the end of 2019 after a long illness at the age of 84.

Direction method

Harry Kupfer's work was in the tradition of realistic music theater , as developed by Walter Felsenstein and, above all, can be experienced in his productions at the Komische Oper Berlin. Not speculative meta-levels , but the meticulous development of the interpretation from the implications of the work characterized Kupfer's productions. The scenic processes, the conflicts and the dramatic story arc are verified from the score and the logic of the relationships between the characters. A differentiated rehearsal work with the singers (who were always required as actors with acting qualities) and the choir created the liveliness and credibility that characterized his work. In this he joined Giorgio Strehler's commitment to “human theater”. In doing so, Kupfer always placed the characters - following Brecht's method of dialectical theater - in historical-political contexts that at least help determine their actions.

Productions (selection)

Awards (selection)

Quotes

  • “I would like to play through all the questions in the world in this beautiful total art form, opera, in order to make suggestions for how people can live together.” Harry Kupfer
  • “The nice thing about Harry is that everything he says comes from a deep knowledge of the work. His suggestions and solutions never go against the music, even if you sometimes get this impression at first. ” Wolfgang Wagner
  • "Since I started working with him, I've been telling everyone who wants to hear it or not that I consider Harry Kupfer the most important director on the music scene." Gerd Albrecht

literature

  • Short biography for:  Kupfer, Harry . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Christoph Kammertöns : Harry Kupfer , in: Elisabeth Schmierer (Ed.): Lexikon der Oper , Volume 1. Laaber, Laaber 2002, ISBN 978-3-89007-524-2 , pp. 814–816.
  • Dieter Kranz : Harry Kupfer staged at the Komische Oper Berlin. Richard Wagner "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" 1981; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, 1982; Giacomo Puccini, “La Bohème”, 1982; Aribert Reimann "Lear", 1983; Giuseppe Verdi “Rigoletto”, 1983; Modest Mussorgsky "Boris Godunow" 1983; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Così fan tutte” 1984 ( theater work in the GDR, 1 documentary). Berlin 1987.
  • Dieter Kranz: The director Harry Kupfer “I have to do opera” Reviews, descriptions, conversations. Berlin 1988.
  • Dieter Kranz: Berlin theater. 100 performances from three decades. Berlin 1990 - (including conversations with Kupfer)
  • Dieter Kranz: On the trail of the present. The opera director Harry Kupfer. Henschel, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89487-522-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Kupfer died in Berlin at the age of 84
  2. ↑ Dieter Kranz: On the trail of the present. The opera director Harry Kupfer. Henschel, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89487-522-4
  3. ↑ http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/archivdetail/programid/4907/j/2014
  4. ↑ Congratulations - The chief director - Culture - Süddeutsche.de
  5. ↑ Opera director Harry Kupfer dies , deutschlandfunkkultur.de, published and accessed on December 31, 2019.
  6. ↑ Dieter Kranz: On the trail of the present. The opera director Harry Kupfer. Henschel, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89487-522-4 , pp. 9-10
  7. ^ Opera "Poros" on the homepage of the Komische Oper Berlin (premiere was on March 16, 2019.)
  8. ↑ Harry Kupfer has shaped the German-German opera scene like hardly any other director. Even at 80 he continues on stage. - www.swp.de
  9. ↑ Dieter Kranz: On the trail of the present. The opera director Harry Kupfer. Henschel, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89487-522-4
personal data
SURNAME Copper, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kupfer, Harry Alfred Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera director
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 2019
Place of death Berlin