Biography
Julia Katharina Berndt is collaborating with the National Theatre in Prague in the 2022/23 season for the first time. Born in Hamburg, she earned a BA in Drama & Theatre Studies from the Holloway College, University of London, and subsequently trained as a set and costume designer on the prestigious Motley Theatre Design Course under the tutelage of Alison Chitty. In 2011, she was shortlisted for the Linbury Prize for Stage Design; in 2012, she received the Off West End Award for Best Entertainment. In 2012, she returned to Germany. Since 2016, she has been a freelance set and costume designer. Julia has worked for numerous theatres, including the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Staatstheater Hannover, Mainfrankentheater Würzburg, Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra national de Lorraine, Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, Salzburger Festspiele, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Komische Oper Berlin, and regularly collaborated with the stage directors Frederic Wake-Walker, Nina Russi, Tomo Sugao and Jetske Mijnssen. Julia was a semi-finalist of the Ring Award competition (2017 and 2020) in Graz. In 2018, she received a nomination as Rising Artist of the Year in Opernwelt’s critics’ survey for the scenery she created for the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg’s production of Nixon in China. In 2019, she received a Costume Designer of the Year nomination for her work on the production of La divisione del mondo at the Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra national de Lorraine and Château de Versailles. Julia Katharina Berndt currently lives in Hamburg.