Daniel Wiesner

Biography

Born 1947. Daniel Wiesner studied choreography at the Academy of Music and Drama, he was on several study visits to Belgium (under M. Béjart), in Algeria, Morocco, and in France. He has been choreographer and soloist of the National Theatre Ballet in Prague for 23 years (1967-90). In the meantime he also worked as choreographer in the State Theatre in Brno, and taught as professor of choreography at the Academy of Music and Drama. While still a student he was twice awarded first prize for choreography at the Nation-wide Competition (1977, 1979). In a short time he attained significant standing as the choreographer of the National Theatre thanks to his uncommon and original full-length ballets: Macbeth (music by V. Riedlbauch), Jennifer (L. Simon), Princ Bajaja (V. Trojan, J. Klusák); in Brno, Ikaros (S. Slonimskij), Pierrot (Z. Pololáník), Double Concerto and Toccata e due canzoni (B. Martinů), The Taming of the Shrew (O. Flosmann). His work was also appreciated on the international scene: first prizes at the TV Festival in Banff, Canada, 1987, twice in Salzburg for the choreography of the operas The Eternal Faust and Memento Mori, and at the TV Festival in Nancy for the choreography of the ballet Dora by V. Kašlík. Lately he has become a free-lance director and choreographer and his work ranges from drama direction (Shakespeare’s Macbeth), through the original and dynamic direction of operas (Verdi’s La traviata, Bizet’s Carmen in the town of Ostrava, Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice in Olomouc, Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci in Brno) to Czech stage premieres of musicals (Singing in the Rain in Ostrava). He has often appeared as a guest director and choreographer abroad, in Sophia, Switzerland, Malta and Portugal. Update: 2002