Uwe Eric Laufenberg

Uwe Eric Laufenberg (born 11 December 1960) is a German actor, stage director for play and opera, and theatre manager who has directed at international opera houses and festivals, such as Elektra at the Vienna State Opera and Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival.

Uwe Eric Laufenberg
In 2014
Born (1960-12-11) 11 December 1960
Cologne
EducationFolkwang Hochschule
Occupation
  • Actor
  • Stage director
  • Theatre manager
Organization
Websitewww.uwe-laufenberg.de

He was Intendant of the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, the Cologne Opera, and has been Intendant of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from 2014, where he staged Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, presented at the Internationale Maifestspiele 2017.

Career

Born in Cologne, he studied from 1981 to 1983 at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen.[1] He was an assistant of Ruth Berghaus, Rudolf Noelte, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Peter Stein, among others. He worked first in 1983 at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. From 1985, he was an actor and Regieassistent (assistant of the stage director) at the Schauspiel Frankfurt.[1] He directed from 1988 Harald Kuhlmann's Pfingstläuten, Die Gerechten by Albert Camus, Rainald Goetz' Krieg, Ferdinand Bruckner's Krankheit der Jugend and Rückkehr in die Wüste by Bernard Marie Koltès.[2]

In 1990, Laufenberg moved to the Theater Köln, where he directed Tankred Dorst's Merlin oder Das wüste Land,[1] Dürrenmatt's Der Besuch der alten Dame and Goethe's Clavigo, among others. From 1992, he directed operas at international locations, such as Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at La Monnaie, Smetana's Die verkaufte Braut at the Volksoper Wien, and Puccini's Tosca at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He directed Ernst Krenek's Karl V. for the Bregenzer Festspiele 2008, and Mozart's Don Giovanni at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Peking.[2]

From 2004 to 2009, Laufenberg was Intendant (General Manager) of the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam. He designed the concept Potsdam unterwegs (Potsdam on the road), presenting a production at various locations of the town. From the 2009/10 season, he managed the Cologne Opera.[3] He staged a Mozart cycle of Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and La clemenza di Tito. The house earned the title Opernhaus des Jahres (Opera house of the year) in 2012.[4] He canceled his contract the same year. He wrote a novel about his experiences, titled Palermo and published in 2013.[5][6]

A scene from Elektra at the Vienna State Opera

From 2013 to 2015, Laufenberg directed for the Linz Opera Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. He has been Intendant of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from the 2014/15 season. His first production there was Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss.[7]

In 2015 he staged Elektra by Strauss at the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Mikko Franck. He directed at the Bayreuth Festival of 2016 a new production of Parsifal.[7][8]

His focus in Wiesbaden in the 2016/17 season has been again Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen, staged by him based on his Linz version, and conducted by Alexander Joel. It was presented twice during the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden 2017, conducted by Alexander Joel.[9][10] Among the soloists were the Bayreuth singers Evelyn Herlitzius as Brünnhilde and Andreas Schager as both Siegmund and Siegfried. Sabina Cvilak appeared as Sieglinde, and Egils Silins as Wotan..[11]

References
  1. "Uwe Eric Laufenberg / deutscher Theaterregisseur und Schauspieler" (in German). Munzinger. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  2. Andreas Kotte, ed. (2005). "Uwe Eric Laufenberg". Theaterlexikon der Schweiz (TLS) / Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse (DTS) / Dizionario Teatrale Svizzero / Lexicon da teater svizzer [Theater Dictionary of Switzerland]. 2. Zürich: Chronos. pp. 1086–1087. ISBN 978-3-0340-0715-3. LCCN 2007423414. OCLC 62309181. retrieved 9 July 2017
  3. "Am Mikrofon / Der Opernintendant Uwe Eric Laufenberg" (in German). Deutschlandfunk. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  4. Zeit online, dpa Newsticker 1 October 2012.
  5. Goertz, Wolfram (21 August 2013). "Rache für Köln – Ein echter Opernintendant macht das Kulturleben zum Roman". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  6. Hilmes, Hartmut (20 August 2013). "Kölns Ex-Opernchef Uwe Eric Laufenberg rechnet ab". Bonner Generalanzeiger (in German). Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  7. "Uwe Eric Laufenberg". Staatstheater Wiesbaden. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  8. "Uwe Eric Laufenberg" (in German). Bayreuth Festival. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  9. "Der Ring des Nibelungen / In der Spielzeit 2016/2017 wird Wiesbaden zur Wagner-Stadt" (in German). FAZ. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  10. "Wiesbaden: Besetzungsänderung für "Der Ring des Nibelungen" während der Internationalen Maifestspiele 2017". Infos des Tages (Mittwoch, 26 April 2017) (in German). Der Neuer Merker. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  11. Stern, Dietrich (4 May 2017). "Maifestspiele: Der erste "Ring"-Zyklus des Festivals im Wiesbadener Staatstheater". Wiesbadener Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 19 July 2017.

Literature
  • Uwe Eric Laufenberg: Palermo. Strauss Medien, Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-943713-18-3.
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