The successor to Nora Schmid as artistic director of the Graz Opera is Ulrich Lenz. The German was presented in an online press conference on Friday. From the 2023/24 season onwards, Lenz will lead the agendas of the Graz Opera. Nora Schmid will take over the management of the Semperoper in Dresden in the 2024/25 season.
In the splendid setting of the mirror foyer of the Graz Opera House, Nora Schmid’s successor was presented at noon on Friday. His name: Ulrich Lenz. Long-term collaboration with Barrie KoskyLenz studied musicology, theater studies and art history in Munich, Berlin and Milan. He began his theater career in the 1997/98 season as assistant dramaturge at the State Opera in Stuttgart. In the following years he worked as an opera dramaturge at the theaters in Linz and Mannheim. In 2006 he became chief dramaturge at the Hanover State Opera, where he worked until 2011. Since the 2012/13 season he has been chief dramaturge at the Komische Oper Berlin in Barrie Kosky’s team, with whom he has worked for many years and with whom he recently designed “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” in Bayreuth. From baroque to operettas to world premieres in Lenz himself wants to “continue on the good path of Nora Schmid and set new accents”, as he said at his presentation in Graz. Among other things, he would like to set a new focus on baroque opera. There are also said to be more opera premieres under his directorship and he wants to “make people want new music”. He also wants to continue to live out his passion for operettas and musicals, which he developed at the Komische Oper, in Graz. And last but not least, the maintenance of the classical opera repertoire – especially Wagner – should not be neglected. He also wants to develop cross-disciplinary projects with the Schauspielhaus. 20 applications for the post There were a total of 20 applications for the post, including “renowned theater experts from German-speaking countries and personalities from the international opera scene,” as Bernhard Rinner, head of the Graz theaters, confirmed in advance. Nora Schmids The contract in Graz runs until the end of the 2023/24 season, after which the Swiss-born will leave Graz for Dresden. There she will take over the management of the Semperoper with the season 2024/25. The management of the Graz Opera is not the only Styrian cultural post currently available. Only recently, Andrea Vilder was presented as the new director of the Graz Schauspielhaus. She is taking over the post from Iris Laufenberg, who will leave Graz at the end of the 2022/23 season and take over the management of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. A successor is still being sought for Barbara Steiner, director of the Grazer Kunsthaus, who will join the Bauhaus in Dessau. Foundation changes. The call for tenders will run until the end of the year, the successor should be fixed in 2022. And the directorship of steirischer herbst will also be advertised again soon.
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