Toni Businger

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Toni Businger (born June 6, 1934 in Wettingen , Switzerland ; † February 15, 2019 in Baden AG , resident in Wettingen, Stans and Regensberg ) was a freelance, self-taught stage and costume designer .

Live and act

Toni Businger grew up with two brothers in Wettingen in their parents' chalet . He completed primary and district school in Wettingen and then graduated in Stans from the Capuchin College of St. Fidelis in 1954 with Matura A (Latin and Greek). He began to study literature at the University of Zurich , where his interests were also in the history of art and theater , but after 3 months he dropped out.

During a stay of several months in Provence , he spontaneously decided to take part in a poster competition (for Antibes and the seaside resort of Juan-les-Pins ), which he won. Back in Zurich he met Teo Otto , who was impressed by Businger's handling of light and shadow as a painter, and from 1956–1958 he became his assistant: a teacher who, for his part, performed both world premieres by Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Mother Courage in Switzerland wrote theater history for Bertolt Brecht and Faust for Gustaf Gründgens at the Schauspielhaus Zürich .

Fixed engagements as a set designer followed from 1957 to 1960 at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, 1960 to 1962 at the municipal theaters of Freiburg im Breisgau , where he set up 16 operas and 16 plays. Since then he has worked as a freelance, among other things for the Zurich Opera House and again for the Schauspielhaus Zurich, the City Theater Bern , the Grand Théâtre de Genève , 1972-1981 for the Bregenz Festival (sensational stage architecture), also in Brussels, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona and Madrid, as well as in the USA and Canada since 1966.

His breakthrough to international renown came with the equipment of Mozart's Magic Flute in the San Francisco Opera in 1967. In the course of his artistic career he worked at around 80 opera and theaters. Of a total of more than 300 "his" premieres, around 100 took place in Switzerland. Businger also designed signets , club flags and village theater sets in his closer home.

In 2005 he was granted honorary citizenship of the Wettingen community.

plant

Awards

  • 1980: Central Switzerland Culture Prize , "based on the fact that his creations are characterized by the highest artistic imagination, versatility and artistic security".
  • 1989: Johann Melchior – Wyrsch Prize from the Schindler Cultural Foundation

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung of February 28, 2019: Set designer Toni Businger died , accessed on February 28, 2019
  2. ^ Christian Hoffmann: Toni Businger. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 6, 2005 , accessed July 10, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Feller: The world-renowned set designer Toni Businger is 80 years old. in: Aargauer Zeitung , Baden edition, June 2, 2014.
  4. ^ Motion Dr. Charles Meier dated December 9, 2004 regarding the granting of honorary citizenship , Wettingen Residents' Council, 2004-3171
  5. ↑ Hansueli Trüb: A sophisticated set designer - Toni Businger, honorary citizen of Wetting, celebrated his 80th birthday. In: Wettiger Stern , issue 4, June 2014
  6. ↑ Paul Fischer, Toni Businger: Spanish bread train . Baden-Verlag, 2nd edition 1996, ISBN 978-3-85545059-6 .
  7. ^ Rudolf Jeanloz, Toni Businger: Dessert Creationen. Self-published, 1st edition 1991, ISBN 3-952012505 -.
  8. ↑ Peter Graf: What was - what is - what will be. In: Rundschau , North Edition, No. 45, p. 15, November 6, 2014.
  9. ^ Schindler Cultural Foundation , winner of the Johann Melchior Wyrsch Prize
personal data
SURNAME Businger, Toni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss set designer and costume designer
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Wettingen , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH 15th February 2019
Place of death Baden AG