Ulrike Hessler

Ulrike Hessler (2010)

Ulrike Hessler , married. Hessler-Meurer, (born February 7, 1955 in Kassel ; † July 30, 2012 in Munich ) was a German author , journalist and theater manager. From 2006 to 2010 she was interim director of the Bavarian State Opera , then director of the Saxon State Opera in Dresden until her death .

Life

After graduating from high school , Ulrike Hessler studied German , Romance languages (French, Spanish and Italian) and modern history at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. After the state examination, she worked as a research assistant at the chair for didactics of German language and literature at the Catholic University of Eichstätt . Her main focus was the research project "Theater and Drama in Education". In 1984 she graduated from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich with a Dr. phil. Doctorate: Your work with doctoral supervisor Wolfgang Frühwald was entitled Bernard von Brentano - A German Writer Without Germany. Trends in the novel between the Weimar Republic and exile . In addition, Hessler worked as a freelancer for Bayerischer Rundfunk . The editors' programs on cultural criticism, serious music and light music, which she helped to edit, were also broadcast on Sender Freie Berlin . She also wrote as a freelance journalist for magazines such as Vogue and Men's Vogue.

Bavarian State Opera

At the beginning of the 1984/85 season, after traineeships in the dramaturgy, she became assistant to the press spokesman and head of the press office at the Bavarian State Opera . From 1988 she was press spokeswoman and head of the press and public relations department under State Opera Director Wolfgang Sawallisch . As such, she took on overarching organizational tasks for the preparation and implementation of two overall guest performances in Japan in 1988 and 1992.

At the beginning of the 1993/94 season she became head of the extended public relations department of the Bavarian State Opera under State Director Sir Peter Jonas . In this capacity she was part of the directorate of the State Opera and had an artistic say in the development of the media. During this time she developed a comprehensive marketing and PR concept and expanded the tourism marketing area. In the press department, she and the editorial team: Kultur aktuell des Bayerischen Rundfunks organized the discussion series “Culture live from the Bavarian State Opera”. Around 50 events had been broadcast by 2003. Since 1997 she has been responsible for the conception and organization of the PR event “Opera for Everyone” at the Munich Opera Festival; From 1998 she was responsible for the program conception and organization of the Munich Opera Festival, which Cornel Franz directed from 1996 to 2006.

In 1997 she applied for the post of cultural advisor for the state capital of Munich. However, she was defeated by one vote by Julian Nida-Rümelin .

At the beginning of the 2001/2002 season she became director for public relations and program design at the Bavarian State Opera. In this position she worked until 2008 and published several publications about the Munich State Opera in her area of ​​responsibility. In 2003 she was commissioned as initiator and project manager with the Bavarian State Ministry for Science, Research and Art for the series of events “Power of feelings. 350 Years of Opera in Munich ”with the participation of the following state institutions: Haus der Kunst, German Theater Museum, Ludwig Maximilians University, architecture collection in the Pinakothek der Moderne, State Theater on Gärtnerplatz, Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes, Munich City Museum and Bavarian State Opera.

From 2006 she became a member of the three-person and from January 2008 the two-person interim management of the Bavarian State Opera. In this capacity, she partly assumed the director's function with all operational management tasks including internal management and control of the company.

Dresden State Opera

In 2010 she was appointed artistic director of the Semperoper Dresden and advocated Christian Thielemann's engagement as chief conductor of the Saxon State Orchestra .

tomb

On July 30, 2012, Ulrike Hessler died unexpectedly after a short, serious illness in Munich at the age of 57. She was buried on the Tolkewitz urn grove in the Meurer family grave. The directorship was taken over by Wolfgang Rothe, the commercial director of the Semperoper.

Part-time activities

• 1990: Member of the "Finland in Munich" board of trustees. Exhibitions, music, film and literature events at state and municipal institutions in cooperation with the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 1992: Conception, organization and implementation of "Japan in Munich" - in connection with the third guest performance of the Bavarian State Opera in Japan, the influence of Japanese art on European art of the 19th and 20th centuries was shown in four representative exhibitions.
• 2002: Visiting professor at the State University of Music and Fine Arts (Gedai), Tokyo
• 2003: Appointment to the board of trustees of the Kulturstiftung der Stadtsparkasse Munich
• 2004: Appointment to the artistic advisory board of the Kaske Foundation (chair: Wolfgang Sawallisch)
• 2007: Visiting professor at Showa University of Music, Tokyo

Private

Hessler was married to Michael Meurer, the former director of the Dermatology Clinic at the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital in Dresden .

Honorary positions

• 1988: Co-founder and since then a member of the Bavarian Friends of Tel Aviv University. In this capacity, conception, organization and implementation of numerous charity events in Munich for the establishment of a Bavarian endowed chair for visiting professors (inaugurated in 1991) and for the establishment of a fund for anti-Semitism research at Tel Aviv University
• From 1990: Overseas Member of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University (re-elected for three years in 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008)
• 1990 until the association was dissolved in 1997: Member of the board of the Friends of the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Association
• 1990: Member of the board of trustees “Wartburgfest” - German-German youth and student meeting and meeting of university teachers in Eisenach. Since then, corresponding member of the Collegium Euraopaeum Jenense
• From 1991: Board member of the Jean Sibelius Society Germany eV
• From 1992: Board member of Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Munich eV
• From 1999: Board member of the Richard Strauss Society Munich eV
• From 2003: Member of the board of trustees of the Kulturstiftung der Stadtsparkasse München, the artistic advisory board of the Kaske Foundation and the European Forum Alpbach

Awards

• 2009: Awarded the Pro meritis scientiae et litterarum award from the Free State of Bavaria for services in science and art

Book publications (selection)

• Bernard of Brentano. A German writer without Germany. Trends in the novel between the Weimar Republic and exile. Frankfurt, Bern, New York, Nancy 1984
• Bernard of Brentano. A German writer without Germany. In: Bernd Heidenreich (Ed.): Spirit and power. The Brentanos. Wiesbaden 2000
• Powerhouse of passion. The Bavarian State Opera. Munich, London, New York 2001, ISBN 3-7913-2628-7
• Power of feelings. 350 years of opera in Munich. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89487-455-4
• If music is food for love, keep playing. Munich 2006, ISBN 3-8296-0232-4

Web links

Commons : Ulrike Hessler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ulrike Hessler in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Message from the MDR on the death of Hessler ( Memento from August 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ http://www.mdr.de/sachsen/5775002.html  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.