Cologne director Bachmann becomes head of the Burgtheater in Vienna
Created: 12/21/2022, 12:19 p.m
View of the Burgtheater.
© Georg Hochmuth/APA/dpa/archive image
The director of the Schauspiel Köln, Stefan Bachmann, will change to the head of the Burgtheater in Vienna in 2024.
This was announced by the Austrian Secretary of State for Culture, Andrea Mayer, on Wednesday.
The 56-year-old Swiss director and theater manager replaces the Austrian Martin Kušej (61) in Vienna.
Vienna – Mayer paid Kušej respect for having led the traditional stage through the difficult Corona phase.
"The fact that another person is sitting next to me today is simply because Bachmann convinced me in an outstanding way during the application process," she said at a press conference.
Bachmann is the right person to bring audiences back to the theater at a time of uncertainty, she said.
As a director, the 56-year-old Bachmann is familiar with the Burgtheater.
He has presented award-winning productions there in the past, including Elfriede Jelinek's “Winterreise” (2012).
He has been invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen several times with productions on various stages, most recently in 2021 with Max Frisch's "Graf Öderland", which he developed for the Basel Theater and the Munich Residenztheater.
Kušej moved from the head of the Bavarian State Theater in Munich to Vienna in 2019.
Due to the Corona closures, he was only able to partially implement his plans for an open, international theater and had to struggle with a drop in visitors.
dpa