Willy Decker
Director
© Bernd Thissen
Willy Decker, one of the leading directors of our times, returned to Zurich Opera recently for a new Les contes d'Hoffmann and created productions for leading opera houses all over the world, including Elektra in Amsterdam, La traviata at the Salzburg Festival and the world premiere of Aribert Reimann's Das Schloss /The Castle at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. His most highly praised productions included Lulu at the Vienna State Opera, Kátia Kabanová at Den Norske Opera in Oslo and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at Zurich Opera and the Hamburg State Opera. He worked with the set and costume designer Wolfgang Gussmann on many productions, including Korngold's The Dead City, La traviata in Salzburg and Rheingold at the Semperoper in Dresden. Their production of Massenet's Werther, being performed here again this season, and which belongs to Oper Frankfurt, was a co-production between the Nationale Opera in Amsterdam and Opéra de Lyon. It has been seen in Madrid, Barcelona, Ghent / Antwerp, Geneva, Rome, Naples, Prague and, most recently, at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. Willy Decker was Intendant of the Ruhrtriennale from 2009 – 2011. He was made a »Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres« by France in 2001 for his services to the arts and awarded a Medal of Honour by Nordrhein-Westfalen in 2006. He was an honorary professor at the Musik Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin for many years and now teaches at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg.