Jiří Heřman

Biography

Jiří Heřman studied singing at the Plzeň Conservatory and opera directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. At the present time, he is one of the foremost Czech opera stage directors. He gained recognition owing both to chambre projects in non-traditional spaces and productions on large opera stages. The first group include Lamenti (2004), an original scenic medidation to Francesco Micieli’s text and Michal Nejtek’s music, presented at the NoD Universal Space in Prague, at the Schlachthaustheater in Bern and at the Riocenacontemporanea festival in Rio de Janeiro; the Czech premiere of Benjamin Britten’s church parable Curlew River at the the former Church of St Mary Magdalene (Czech Museum of Music) in Prague within the Strings of Autumn Festival 2005, and the staged performance of Schubert’s Winterreise set in the imimmense space of Studio 4 at Barrandov (coproduction of the Strings of Autumn Festival and the National Theatre Prague, 2013). When it comes to opera stages, Jiří Heřman produced Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila (2002), Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (2004), with received the Sazka and Divadelní noviny Award, and Gounod’s Faust (2013) at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň. From 2007 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Opera of the National Theatre in Prague, where he has staged seven productions: Monteverdi´s Orfeo, Dvořák´s Rusalka, The Miracles of Mary by Bohuslav Martinů, Wagner’s Parsifal, Dvořák’s The Jacobin, Benjamin Britten's Gloriana in the Czech premiere, and Zdeněk Fibich's The Fall of Arkun. His most recent projects include Puccini’s Tosca at the Janáček’s Theatre of the National Theatre Brno (2015) and Bohuslav Martinů’s The Greek Passion at the Aalto Musiktheater in Essen (2015). The management of the Prague Quadriennial International Set Design Exhibition 2015 named Jiří Heřman comissar for the music and space section. Since January 2015 he has been artistic director of the Opera of the National Theatre in Brno.
Update: October 2015