GUEST FROM SWITZERLAND: OPERA DIRECTOR PROFESSOR MATHIAS BEHRENDS
21-25 October 2024
LMTA Balcony Theatre (Gedimino pr. 42, Vilnius)
GUEST FROM SWITZERLAND: OPERA DIRECTOR PROFESSOR MATHIAS BEHRENDS
Monday, 21 October, 11 am.
Meeting with Mathias Behrends
21-24 October, 12-6 pm.
Opera Masterclasses
Friday, 25 October, 6 pm.
Final session of the course “Opera Pastiche”
After studying opera directing at the Hans Eisler University of Music in Berlin, where he studied under the eminent directors Ruth Berghaus, Peter Konwitschny and the playwright Hans-Jochen Irmer, Mathias Behrends worked with the directors Ruth Berghaus, Johannes Schaaf, Christian Pöppelreiter and the artistic director of the Stuttgart Staatsoper Klaus Zehelein. Mathias Behrends assisted and directed at the Stuttgart State Opera. He has also directed opera productions at the Apollo Hall of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Leipzig University Music Festival, the Cottbus State Theatre, Ingolstadt, Bad Tols, the Graz University of the Arts, the Singapore New Opera, the Croatian National Theatre Zagreb, the Mimar Museum Zagreb, the festivals in Davos (Switzerland), La Chaise-Dieu (France), and the Centre for Contemporary Music Leipzig. The palette of works directed by the professor is extremely wide: from Bach’s St John Passion to contemporary opera.
Mathias Behrends is Artistic Director, Professor and Head of Department at the Swiss Opera Studio and has successfully directed more than 50 operas at the Bern University of the Arts.
In his creative projects Opernwerkstatt, Opernskizzen, and opera productions he successfully integrates jazz, folk music, contemporary and pop music.
He has taught at the Karlsruhe University of Music, the F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig, the University of Music and Theatre in Graz, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and has frequently given opera courses in Germany, Croatia and Switzerland, including at the University of Zagreb and the Academy of Music Zagreb, at the Oper oder Spree (Mark Brandenburg), at the International Summer Academy Biel/Bienne, at the University of Music in Geneva, and at the Sigriswil International Opera Course.
Free admission, welcome!