Intendant, Oper Dortmund
In August 2018, Heribert Germeshausen became artistic director of the Dortmund Opera.
From 2011 to July 2018, he was head of the opera section of Theater Heidelberg. At the same time, he was artistic director of the Baroque Festival WINTER IN SCHWETZINGEN.
From 2009 to 2011 he was head of the opera section of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau.
Since 2009/10, both of the opera companies managed by him have been nominated for the renowned German theatre prize “DER FAUST”: Dessau in 2010; Heidelberg in 2013, 2016, 2018. Apart from the nomination for German theatre prize DER FAUST, the opera companies achieved numerous nominations in various categories in the annual surveys of the opera magazines “Opernwelt” and “Die Deutsche Bühne”.
In the 2014/15 season, the opera company of the Heidelberg theatre was awarded the “Preis der deutschen Theater und Medienverlage 2014”. The prize was awarded for the “most exciting and innovative opera programme” of the 14/15 season.
Among the highlights of his tenure in Heidelberg/Schwetzingen counts a cycle of “opera napoletana”, which was conceived as a chronological longitudinal intersection in seven parts through this epoch. Five of the seven operas were first staged for the first time in modern times.
Contemporary music was another pillar of this tenure: The first new productions of Wolfgang Rihm’s “Dionysos” and of Georg Friedrich Hass “Morgen und Abend” after their creations at the Salzburg Festival respectively London Covent Garden, the world creations of Johannes Kalitzke’s “Pym” and of Johannes Harneit’s “Abends am Fluss/Hochwasser”. Special attention has been given to the first staging in Germany of the original version of Mieczysław Weinberg’s “Mazl Tov” in connection with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Der Ring des Polykrates”. The production was accompanied with symposium on M. Weinberg, E.W. Korngold and Isang Yun on the subject “Composing under political repression”.
The programming for Dortmund opera ties up to the concept of repertoire rediscoveries and interweaves it with an emphasis on Richard Wagner and a new production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” staged by the director Peter Konwitschny.
Heribert Germeshausen is a regular jury member of important singing competitions including the “International Hans Gabor Belverdere Singing Competition” and the International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera «Pietro Antonio Cesti» in Innsbruck.
Photo (c) Björn Hickmann