Around the Music Festival

Austrian stage director Otto Schenk passed away on January 9th at his holiday home on the shores of Lake Ise in the Salzkammergut. He was 94 years old.

He was one of the leading stage directors of the post-war era, and he directed many operas at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Music Festival, as well as Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Born in Vienna, he studied law and political science at the University of Vienna, and then studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar before beginning his acting career at the Josefstadt Theater and the Vienna Volkstheater.

He began his career as a stage director in the early 1950s, working on Shakespeare, Schnitzler, Horvath and Chekhov plays at the Burgtheater and the Munich Kammerspiele.

In 1957, he made his debut as an opera director with Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Salzburg State Theater. He then attracted attention with his direction of Berg’s “Lulu” at the Theater an der Wien in 1962.

In 1964, he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera, directing Janáček’s Jenůfa. He has directed productions of Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier”, Johann Strauss II’s “Die Fledermaus”, Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier”, Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, and Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore”, many of which are still being performed today. His style, which is faithful to the literary nature of the works and tradition, has been highly acclaimed.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, he directed various productions at opera houses such as La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, the Bavarian State Opera in Germany, and the Hamburg State Opera.

The Ring Cycle was performed at the Metropolitan Opera until 2009. In 2006, his last production was Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, starring Anna Netrebko.

He continued to act as an actor until his later years, and in 2019 he appeared in the TV movie “Vier Saiten”. In 2020, he took to the stage for the last time at his old stomping ground, the Josefstadt Theater, in “The Cherry Orchard”.

He was awarded the Austrian Decoration for Science and Arts, Grand Cross in 1976, the Grand Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic in 1994, and the Platinum Romy in 2016.

PHOTO：Ernst Kainerstorfer