Claus Guth

Biography

Stage director Claus Guth is one of the most critically acclaimed artists of his generation.

Born in Frankfurt, he completed his studies in Munich before directing a series of productions in Munich, Mannheim and Hamburg that quickly garnered international attention.

His international breakthrough came in 1999, when he directed the world premiere of Luciano Berio’s Cronaca del Luogo at the Salzburg Festival. Claus Guth returned to Salzburg the following year for a production of Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride and has been a frequent guest at the festival since, with acclaimed productions of Mozart’s Zaide and the Da Ponte trilogy which has been revived in various houses in both Europe and America.

He directed Luisa Miller at Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Der fliegende Holländer at the Bayreuth Festival in 2003 and has been a regular guest at the Zurich Opera, where he directed Fierrabras and Parsifal, among other.

He collaborated with the Frankfurt Opera, directing productions such as Pelléas et Mélisande, Daphne and Rosenkavalier and Theater an der Wien working on the Monteverdi trilogy and staged versions of Handel’s Messiah and Schubert’s Lazarus.

Particularly acclaimed for his productions of all Richard Wagner’s operas, worthwhile mentioning are productions including Lohengrin at La Scala in Milan, Tannhäuser at the Wiener Staatsoper, Tristan und Isolde at Opernhaus Zürich and the complete Ring Cycle for the Hamburg Staatsoper.

Claus Guth is known for his interest in contemporary music theatre and has directed a number of world premieres such as Chaya Czernowin’s Pnima...Ins Innere at the Munich Biennale, Peter Ruzicka’s Celan in Dresden and most recently Aschemond or The Fairy Queen with music by Helmuth Oehring and Henry Purcell at the Berlin Staatsoper.

Further recent highlights of his body of work include Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten which was coproduced by Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

In the 2016/17 season he directed a new production of Jephtha at De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam before returning to the Opera National de Paris for a revival of Lohengrin. He made his debut at Teatro Real Madrid with a new production of Rodelinda under the baton of Ivor Bolton, and in Glyndebourne with his new staging of La Clemenza di Tito. Furthermore the revival of Frau ohne Schatten at the Staatsoper Berlin, conducted by Zubin Metha and the new production of Rigoletto at the Opera National de Paris.

The next season started with the revival of Mozart’s Lucio Silla which first premiered twelve years ago at Theater an der Wien and a revival of his celebrated staging of Wagners Tristan und Isolde in Turin. He returned to the Opera National de Paris for a new production of La Bohème, and his staging of Händel’s Jephtha, as part of a coproduction with the De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam. The season continued at Theater an der Wien with the new production of Händel’s Saul, before closing with a new production of Die lustige Witwe at the Oper Frankfurt.

Season 2018/19 include new productions such as Berenice at Opera de Paris, Orlando at Theater an der Wien, Lullaby Experience (music by Pascal Dusapin) in collaboration with Ensemble Moderne and Violetter Schnee at Staatsoper Berlin.

In November 2019 he directed the world premiere Heart Chamber by Chaya Czernowin at the Deutsche Oper.
Teatro Real in Madrid revived his Don Giovanni in December 2020.

He has won twice the prestigious “Faust” prize.

Photo: Monika Rittershaus