Jurgen Flimm German theater and opera director Date of Birth: 17.07.1941 Country: Germany

Biography of Jürgen Flimm

Jürgen Flimm, a German theater and opera director, theatrical manager, actor, and television director, was born on July 17, 1941, in the historic university town of Gießen in central Germany. He studied drama theory, literature, and sociology at the University of Cologne and started his theater career as an assistant director at the Munich Kammerspiele in 1968. He then held the position of director at the National Theatre Mannheim and senior director at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg from 1973 to 1974. Afterward, he worked as a freelance director before being invited to become the director of Schauspiel Cologne.

In addition to his theater work, Flimm also had a career in television. He made his acting debut in the television crime drama "Der Unfall" in 1968 and directed his first television production in 1972. He acted in a total of 12 productions, with his last one in 1994, and directed 15 productions, with his final one being the drama "Käthchens Traum" in 2004.

Flimm returned to the Thalia Theater in 1985 and served as the chief director for the next 15 years. Under his leadership, the theater became one of the most successful in the country, both artistically and economically. His notable productions in Hamburg included works by Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Schnitzler, and William Shakespeare.

Flimm's career as an opera director began in 1978 with the production of Luigi Nono's opera "Al gran sole carico d'amore" in Frankfurt. He went on to direct Jacques Offenbach's "Les contes d'Hoffmann" at the Hamburg State Opera in 1981 and Mozart's "Così fan tutte" in Amsterdam in 1990. He collaborated with Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt on several productions and worked with renowned opera houses such as La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and the Berlin State Opera.

From 2007 to 2010, Flimm served as the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. He then accepted an offer to lead the Berlin State Opera from 2010 to 2015. Throughout his career, Flimm has received numerous German and Austrian awards and is a member of the Academies of Arts in Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Hildesheim.

Currently, Flimm teaches at the University of Hamburg while continuing his work as a director.