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Lukas
Hemleb
director

Lukas Hemleb was born in Frankfurt. In 1985 he made his debut as Director in Germany and Belgium. 

He then moved to France where he soon started to be known for his work directing in theaters such as L’Odéon, La Comédie Francaise, MC 93 de Bobigny, Théâtre de Gennevilliers, TGP in St Denis, Théâtre des Abbesses, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, and in Austria at the Burgtheater in Vienna. In these years he also worked on theatre projects in Cameroun and Nigeria. 

In Opera his range of repertory includes contemporary works as well as great operas by Verdi and Mozart. He also focused on Baroque repertoire such as Telemaco by Alessandro Scarlatti in Schwetzinger Festspiele (2005) and revived in Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Heilbronn, Ariodante by Haendel at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (2007) and revived in Vienna (2008) and Niobe, regina di Tebe by Agostino Steffani again in Schwetzingen, in Lisbon, London (Royal Opera House Covent Garden) and Luxembourg.

In 2010 he directed Giulio Cesare by Haendel at Opera Dortmund.

 

In theatre he staged in 2003 Dindon by Feydeau at the Comédie-Française. This production has been transmitted in the French and German TV (Arte, France 3, Télé 7). Again in 2007 at the Comédie-Française he worked on Misanthrope. This production has been toured all over France and has also been presented at the Festival de Otoño in Madrid. The same year at Théâtre Gérard Philippe à St Denis he presented his adaptation of La Marquise d’O by Heinrich von Kleist and in 2009 федра (Phèdre) by Marina Tsvetaeva, in Russian, he worked with the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre. This performance was produced by the Chekhov International Theatre Festival.

In 2014 he directed Jon Fosse's Je suis le vent presented and produced by Maison de la Culture d'Amiens and Emilia Romagna Teatri in Modena and Bologna.

 

Parallel to his European work he explored the Chinese and Taiwanese traditional theatre collaborating with artists of traditional music Nanguan. In 2012 after spending 7 months in Japan and getting his graduation at the Villa Médicis-hors-les-murs at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto, he came back to Europe to direct Harper Regan (by Simon Stephens), Z - Je me crois à l’enfer donc j’y suis (by Rimbaud), Les Arrangements (Pauline Sales). All these productions were produced and toured in French theatres.

 

In 2014 Gerard Mortier invited him to direct Lohengrin at the Teatro Real in Madrid and in the beginning of 2015 he directed Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

 

2016 started with new and very succesful productions in collaboration with video maker Luca Scarzella for Tosca and with set and lighting designer Gianni Carluccio for Les Huguenots, both at Theater Kiel. In June he was invited again to the Grand Théâtre de Genève, to direct Verdi’s Falstaff

 

In 2017 he will continue his collaboration with Asian artists, directing the Taiwanese Yi Xin Opera Company for a musical adaptation of a Marivaux comedy: Ai Meng Long - Ren Meng Long (Le jeu de l’amour et du hasard) that will be performed in Taipei’s famous Zhong Shan Tang Theater from September 15th to 17th during the Taipei Arts Festival in 2017.

In 2018, under his direction, the contemporary opera Compound Eye Man based on a novel by Taiwanese writer Wu Ming-Yi was part of the opening productions of the new built Taipei Performing Arts Center. The same production has been revived in April 2020 at National Taichung Theatre.

In 2021 he staged Le Premier Cercle, opera by Gilbert Amy at Opera de Massycand Lachesis (composer Marijn Simons) at Landestheater Linz.

 

 

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