Ulrich Peters (director)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ulrich Peters, 2018

Ulrich Peters (born August 29, 1955 in Stuttgart ) is a German opera director and has been General Director of the Münster Theater since August 2012 .

Life

Ulrich Peters studied literature, theater and musicology in Munich , as well as business administration (focus on corporate culture and marketing) and already worked as an assistant director for well-known directors in Stuttgart , Munich and Strasbourg during his studies .

His first permanent engagement took him to the Freiburg Theater in 1981 , where he brought out his first nationally acclaimed productions in 1982 with Cavalli's “L'Ormindo” and Strauss' “Ariadne auf Naxos”.

Between 1983 and 1986 he gained significant artistic experience at the opera houses in Geneva and Brussels in working with Jérôme Savary , Ken Russel , Maurice Bejart , Jorge Lavelli , Luc Bondy and Karl-Ernst Herrmann .

1987 followed an engagement as 1st director at the Bremen theater . There he drew attention to himself in particular with a highly controversial “Lucia di Lammermoor” production and a staged version of the Handel oratorio “Saul”, which came out during the renovation phase of the theater in the Bremen Liebfrauenkirche . In addition to various productions at other opera houses, he was doing his doctorate on “Opera of the 17th and early 18th centuries on the modern opera stage”.

From 1991 to 1997 Peters worked as senior director at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern , where he shaped the musical theater repertoire so decisively through performances of seldom performed composers such as Handel, Gluck, Montemezzi, Weinberger, Zemlinsky, Britten, Barber and Bibalo that the Musiktheater Kaiserslautern participated in 1995 and 1996 a critics' survey (Opernwelt) was named twice in the category “Opera House of the Year” for its “well thought-out, convincing program dramaturgy”. In 1995 he opened the new building of the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern with "Tannhäuser", after he was allowed to open the new theater in Hof in 1994 with a "Don Giovanni" production.

During this time, guest productions regularly took him to Heidelberg and Würzburg. a. to Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Bremen, Dortmund, Halle, Magdeburg, St. Gallen and Stockholm.

From 1992 to 1995 he also held a teaching position in "Scenic Lessons for Opera Singers" at the Academy for Tonkunst in Darmstadt .

The most important directorial works between 1991 and 1997 include the production of "Samson and Dalila" in Stockholm, the work for Heidelberg (Janáček's rarely performed opera "The Excursions of Mr. Broucek", Berg's "Wozzeck", Hindemith's "Neues vom Tage") and Spoliansky's “Call Mr. Plim”), as well as his productions for the Mozart festivals 1991–1994 in Würzburg. The posthumous world premiere of the opera “Kublai, Großkahn der Tartaren” by Antonio Salieri with Diana Damrau and Heiko Trinsinger in central roles attracted particular attention . Above all, however, the examination of the baroque opera always attracted a great deal of attention. Important works include Telemann's “Damon” in Magdeburg and Heidelberg, as well as Handel's “Ariodante” in Kaiserslautern and St. Gallen, “Semele” in Würzburg, “Almira” in Bremen and Halle and, above all, the “Xerxes” production at the opening the 46th Handel Festival in Halle in 1997, for which Peters was named in the opera world - Critics' survey 97 in the category "Director of the Year".

Between 1997 and 1999, Ulrich Peters worked as director of the music theater and director of the Karlsruhe Handel Festival at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe . With his staging of Krenek's "Jonny plays up" he opened a cycle of operas from the 1920s, which he continued in Augsburg, where his path soon led him:

In September 1999 he was appointed director of the Augsburg Theater , a three-part theater with an annual budget of over 20 million euros and around 380 employees. During his tenure, despite its ambitious and unconventional schedule, the theater was able to record a considerable increase in spectators from 160,000 to around 250,000 visitors and an increase in the number of subscribers of over 20%. Peters said goodbye to Augsburg after eight years with a spectacular production of Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" on the Augsburg open-air stage , which saw over 80,000 spectators during two seasons.

From the 2007/08 season, Peters headed the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich until it was closed due to renovation in 2012. By expanding the schedule (11 premieres), a greater variety of theater was achieved, with the original idea of ​​the Volkstheater coming back to the fore. A new focus was set in the area of ​​teaching music theater to children and young people and in youth work (Young Theater Gärtnerplatz). In the 2011/2012 season, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz sold almost 25% of its tickets to people under the age of 25 and achieved a total space utilization of over 80%.

In addition to productions in his own house, Ulrich Peters regularly works as a guest director at home and abroad, so u. a. at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, where he staged Handel's “Partenope” at the 2011 Handel Festival, and at the New National Theater Tokyo , where he opened the season in October 2011 with Verdi's “Il trovatore”.

Since August 2012 he has been general director of the Münster Theater, a five-part theater with music theater, drama, dance, its own children's and youth theater division and a large concert system.

Work in committees

Ulrich Peters is on the board of directors of the German Theater Association and the French directors' association CPDO ("Chambre Professionelle des Directeurs d'Opera"), as well as a member of the tariff committee and the administrative board of the German stage association and was on the media and television committee of the BLM for five years (Bavarian State Center for New Media).

His diverse lecture activities on theater and cultural management as well as culture as an instrument of urban development resulted in a call to the University of Augsburg in the 2003 summer semester, where Peters taught cultural management as part of the general economics department until the 2007 summer semester. In addition, he is co-editor of the publication series "Kulturmanagement" at LIT-Verlag and has occasionally been teaching at the LMU Munich ("Further Education Theater and Music Management") since 2009.

Productions (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ New theater director: Ulrich Peters clearly asserts himself

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Peters, Ulrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera director and artistic director
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart