Harry Kupfer
Harry Alfred Robert copper ( born August 12, 1935 in Berlin ) is a German opera director.
Copper began his career in the 1950s in the GDR. He studied theater at the University of Leipzig. He could already in 1958 with Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka his first opera staged in Halle an der Saale. From 1958 to 1962 he was senior director of the Opera of Stralsund and fulfilled the same function from 1962 to 1966 in Karl- Marx-Stadt under opera director Carl Riha. It was followed by engagements in Weimar and as an opera director in Dresden until 1981 he the artistic director ( " Chief Director " ) who got transferred Komische Oper in Berlin. After successful years at the Komische Oper, where he became one of the most prominent opera directors in Europe, he said goodbye to 2002 with a production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw. Kupfer's production was described in the press, among others, as " admirable ".
He has since developed more than 175 productions. In addition to his work in Berlin, he made guest appearances during the times of the GDR in Graz, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Cardiff, London, Vienna, Salzburg, Barcelona, San Francisco, Moscow, Zurich and also in West Germany. At the Bayreuth Richard Wagner Festival in 1978, he directed the Flying Dutchman and the 1988 Ring of the Nibelung. Together with composer Krzysztof Penderecki wrote the libretto for his opera The Black Mask ( by Gerhart Hauptmann ) and staged the world premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 1986. Also in the category of Musical Harry Kupfer was successful. So he staged in 1992, the musical Elisabeth at the Theater an der Wien.
To working with copper set designers, among others include Reinhart Zimmermann, Peter Sykora, Valeri Lewenthal, Hans Schavernoch and Frank Philipp Schlößmann.
Copper is a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, the Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg and professor at the Berlin Academy of Music. His wife was the singing teacher and soprano Marianne Fischer- copper (* 1922-2008 ), their daughter is actress Kristiane copper ( b. 1960 ).