Nikolaus Lehnhoff

Nikolaus Lehnhoff (born May 20, 1939 in Hanover ; † August 22, 2015 in Berlin ) was a German opera director .

Life

After studying theater studies at the University of Vienna (doctorate in 1962), Lehnhoff became assistant director in 1963 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Gustav Rudolf Sellner and with Wieland Wagner in Bayreuth . In 1966 he moved to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as an assistant .

Lehnhoff's most important works include Wagner productions, including Tristan and Isolde in 1971 at the Römisches Theater Orange with Birgit Nilsson and Jon Vickers (also the new production of this musical drama at the Glyndebourne Festival 2006 with Nina Stemme ). Karl Böhm strongly recommended him in 1972 for Die Frau ohne Schatten in Paris with Christa Ludwig , Walter Berry , Leonie Rysanek and James King .

From an early age he worked with avant-garde stage designers such as Heinz Mack , Günther Uecker , Adolf Luther and Suzan Pitt . Hans Magnus Enzensberger wrote new texts instead of the original dialogues for Lehnhoff's production of Fidelio ( Theater am Goetheplatz in Bremen , 1974, equipment: Uecker).

Lehnhoff's Der Ring des Nibelungen 1984 in San Francisco was set up in a design based on Caspar David Friedrich . At the Ring at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 1987 he worked with Erich Wonder , the conductor was Wolfgang Sawallisch .

In 1990 Lehnhoff made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with Mozart's Idomeneo ; furthermore he staged in Salzburg The subscribed by Franz Schreker (2005) and most recently Richard Strauss Elektra (2010).

Since his time at Wieland Wagner, Lehnhoff has worked with Anja Silja , in particular on three productions by Leoš Janáček operas in Glyndebourne .

In later years Lehnhoff also worked several times at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden .

His last production in May 2015 was Giacomo Puccini's Turandot at La Scala in Milan .

^ Title of his dissertation: Means of representation of comedy, humor and comedy in Richard Wagner's " Meistersinger von Nürnberg " , Vienna, typewritten manuscript, 1962, 160 pp.
↑ FAZ of August 29, 2015 / Eleonore Büning : Freedom as a privilege and risk ( online at genios.de)