Friedrich Rom was born in Vienna. After completing an apprenticeship in electrical engineering, he headed the lighting teams at venues including the Theater in der Josefstadt and its subsidiary Kammerspiele, and the Rabenhof Theatre. He has worked as a lighting designer for the theatres of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, the Vienna Burgtheater, the Stuttgart State Theatre, the Hamburg State Opera, the Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp and the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, as well as for numerous productions at the Salzburg Festival. Between 1996 and 1999 Friedrich Rom was head of lighting at the Vienna Volksoper; he also worked at a light and laser designer at the Mörbisch Lake Festival until 2012. Since 1999 he has been head of lighting at the Burgtheater. There he has worked with directors including Andrea Breth, Simon Stone, Claus Peymann, Leander Haußmann, Hans Neuenfels, Dieter Giesing, Michael Thalheimer, Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, Karin Beier and Jan Bosse.
International guest engagements have taken Friedrich Rom to Japan, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. He taught in the directing class at the Max Reinhardt Seminar and in Erich Wonder’s stage design class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 2005 he was nominated for the Nestroy Theatre Prize. In addition to his work in theatre, he has designed lighting for museums, churches and architectural projects.
