Change of artistic director
Due to necessary renovation work, the Theater an der Wien closes for two years from March 2022. The last general renovation of the building, whose core dates back to 1801, took place in 1962. Renovation measures are planned to secure the historic building from the foundations to the roof trusses as well as the renewal of the electrical engineering and the installation of a lift. From autumn 2022 until the reopening at the beginning of the 2024/25 season Stefan Herheim and his team will have Hall E in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier at their disposal. The Kammeroper continues to be used as a second venue.
Originally trained as a cellist, Herheim - who comes from Oslo - regularly stages productions at Europe's major opera houses. His repertoire ranges from baroque opera to contemporary music theatre. The critics' poll of the magazine Opernwelt voted him "Director of the Year" three times, including for his production of Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival.
On the occasion of his nomination, Stefan Herheim said: "The theatre's international reputation built up under Roland Geyer offers wonderful conditions for spanning this theatre as a cultural bridge between Vienna and the world, between artistic ideals and guardians of reality, between different people. The stage boards of the Theater an der Wien are among the most fertile cultural fields in Europe, where the most splendid fruits can be harvested. The seed for this is a basic trust in artistic integrity."