Kirsten Harms

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Kirsten Harms, Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin 2004–2011, Photo: Bernd Uhlig

Kirsten Harms (born June 25, 1956 in Hamburg ) is a German director and general manager .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1976, she studied flute and musicology at the University of Hamburg , then until 1982 musical theater directing at the University of Music and Performing Arts .

In 1983 she co-founded the independent theater group "Mimesis". The group experimented with the genre "acting with music". From 1985 to 1988 Harms was assistant director at the Dortmund City Theaters . There she brought out her first productions.

Then she worked as a freelance director, u. a. at the stages in Bremen, Hanover, Kiel, Saarbrücken , Darmstadt, Innsbruck and Mainz.

In 1992 she returned to the Hamburg University of Music and Performing Arts as a university professor with a teaching position on the musical theater directing course.

In 1995 Harms became artistic director of the Kiel Opera . Under her leadership, the Kieler Haus became one of the most successful medium-sized houses in the German-speaking region. B. resulted in over twenty mentions in a wide variety of areas in the nominations in the critics' surveys of the magazine Opernwelt . She also became known nationally and internationally with her production of the Ring ( Wagner ). She also drew attention to herself with world premieres and productions of the “excavations” of rarely performed works initiated by her long-time chief dramaturge Andreas KW Meyer .

Harms made her debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2003 as director of Gioacchino Rossini's Semiramide . From 2004 to 2011 Harms was the artistic director of this largest opera house in the federal capital.

At the end of September 2006 Harms came under public criticism for a unique act in the history of the opera world: Due to a warning from the Berlin State Criminal Police Office and the Berlin Interior Authority, Harms temporarily removed two performances of Mozart's Idomeneo staged by Hans Neuenfels from the program at the end of September 2006 . The occasion was an epilogue that the director added to the opera: The final scene shows the severed heads of Poseidon, Buddha, Christ and Mohammed.

By it led German opera was in the yearbook of the opera world in 2008 for stage premiere of Walter Braunfels ' Jeanne d'Arc - Scenes from the Life of St Joan (directed by Christoph Schlingensief ) with the title "Rediscovery of the Year", the same year the choir of the house was named “Choir of the Year”.

In the seasons 2004–2011, 38 productions of the Deutsche Oper Berlin were recorded in order to publish them on CDs, DVDs or broadcast them on television and radio. These include the complete recordings of L'amico Fritz (Mascagni), Colonel Chabert (v. Waltershausen), Marie Victoire (Respighi), as well as DVDs by Germania (Franchetti), Rienzi (Wagner), The Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček), scenes from the life of St. Johanna (Braunfels) and the love of Danae (Strauss). This means that almost every fourth recording of the entire DOB discography, which in 2011 consisted of approx. 130 CDs and DVDs of recordings from over 80 years, came from the last seven years of Kirsten Harms' directorship.

The following directorial works by Kirsten Harms have also been produced as CD or DVD: Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin DE (Schreker) CD 1999, Christophorus UA (Schreker) CD 2001, Die Liebe der Danae (Strauss) CD, NDR 2003 (from Kiel), Germania DE (Franchetti) DVD 2006, Semiramide (Rossini) CD, Radio France 2007 (from Montpellier), Die Liebe der Danae (Strauss) DVD, radio a. TV broadcast 2011 (from Berlin), Vom Ende der Innschuld (Pfeiffer) NDR 2013 (from Hamburg), Die Königin von Saba (Goldmark) CD, SWR 2015 (from Freiburg), Der Schmuck der Madonna (Wolf-Ferrari) CD, SWR 2016 (from Freiburg).

Kirsten Harms founded the Big Band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2006), the children's choir of the Deutsche Oper Berlin with 200 children (2008), the youth club of the Deutsche Oper Berlin eV and the young sponsors of the Deutsche Oper Berlin eV (both 2009). International guest performances have taken the Deutsche Oper to Turkey (Aspendos) in 2006, to France (Montpellier) in 2007, to China (Beijing) in 2008 and again to Turkey (Istanbul) in 2010. In 2006–2008, the Deutsche Oper restaurant and Götz-Friedrich-Platz were built with a staircase, a fountain and outdoor dining. In 2009–2010 she had a new lighting concept developed to illuminate the foyer and the outer opera building. The entire stage technology with upper and lower machinery as well as the stage lighting system was completely renovated.

In 2011 Kirsten Harms' seven-year directorship ended. It was judged in the trade press to be artistically, financially and organizationally extraordinarily efficient. In particular, a refined schedule of dramaturgy and the rediscovery of unknown great operas, including mainly by ostracized or persecuted composers, became her trademark. The audience responded with a 21.6% increase in occupancy, and the Deutsche Oper managed to double its income.

Harms has been Vice President of the International Women's Forum Germany since 2016.

Harms is married to the set designer Bernd Damovsky and has a son, Julian Gregor Damovsky.

Important productions

Discontinuation of the Idomeneo 2006

See the relevant section at "Deutsche Oper Berlin".

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Harms, Kirsten
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director and opera director
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg