Intendant, Deutsche Oper Berlin
Dietmar Schwarz was born in Biberach an der Riss in Germany. He took up literature and theatre studies in Munich and at the Paris Sorbonne. He held professional positions at Theater Freiburg, Bremer Theater, and Oper Frankfurt. In 1994 he returned to Bremer Theater under Intendant Klaus Pierwoß as Leading Dramaturg for Musical Theatre. From 1998 he was Opera Director at Nationaltheater Mannheim and held the same position at Theater Basel from 2006 to 2012. Under his direction, a critics’ poll conducted by the professional journal “Opernwelt” selected the latter twice consecutively to become “Opera House of the Year” (2009 and 2010).
In the summer of 2012 Dietmar Schwarz became Intendant of Deutsche Oper Berlin, starting his activities there programmatically with Helmut Lachenmann’s “Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern” (“The Little Match Girl”), since it is a special concern of his to present contemporary musical theatre: each year the programme includes a significant world premiere, such as “Edward II” by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini, “L’Invisible” by Aribert Reimann and “Oceane” by Detlev Glanert
Apart from the renewal of the classical repertory by stage directors like Christof Loy, Robert Carsen, Jan Boss, and Christian Spuck, Schwarz’s special focus is on the French Grand Opéra: with “Vasco da Gama”, “Les Huguenots” and “Le Prophete” the most important works by Giacomo Meyerbeer are presented at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Together with Chief Music Director Donald Runnicles, Dietmar Schwarz is preparing over several seasons presentations of works by Benjamin Britten as well as German operas from the twenties, such as WOZZECK by Alban Berg or DER ZWERG by Alexander von Zemlinky.
A new presentation site, TISCHLEREI, opened in November 2012, offers a perfect venue for experiments with new forms of the musical theatre and for world premieres of childrens’operas as well as youth projects.
Dietmar Schwarz is a jury member of the RING AWARD, the International Competition for Stage Direction and Design in Graz, and was appointed to be a member of the German Academy for the Performing Arts.
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