Keith Warner
Guest of the OperaBiography
English director Keith Warner is one of the most important directors of our time. He grew up in London and studied English and Drama at Bristol University. In 1981 he joined English National Opera in London and was Associate Director there 1984–1989. He has also been Associate Director of Scottish Opera in Glasgow, Artistic Director of Opera Omaha, Nebraska and Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. Keith Warner has directed more than a hundred and fifty operas in twenty countries, as well as plays and musicals, and has written the librettos to three operas by the English composer David Blake. He has directed two Wagner’s Ring cycles (The Royal Opera, London and the New National Theatre in Tokyo) and Wagner’s Lohengrin for the Bayreuth Festival. He has staged the world premieres of a new version of Krzysztof Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudon (Copenhagen), Hans Gefor’s Notorious based on Hitchcock’s spy thriller (Göteborg) and André Tchaikowsky’s The Merchant of Venice (Bregenz Festival). Awards include the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production for Berg’s Wozzeck (The Royal Opera, London) and Austrian Music Theatre Prize for Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler (Theater an der Wien). At the Prague State Opera he directed Strauss’ Elektra in 2016.
Photo © Bregenz Festival/Monika Forster