Nikolaus Stenitzer was born in 1979 in Bad Aussee, and studied theatre, film and media studies as well as philosophy in Vienna and Hamburg. Following his studies he initially became office manager at the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna, and from 2009 worked as a freelance proofreader, editor and journalist in Hamburg and Berlin. His theatre reviews have appeared in publications including nachtkritik, and his book reviews and essays have appeared in Falter and Theater der Zeit, among others.
From 2013 he was first the final editor and subsequently the editorial director of the magazine Max Joseph at the Bavarian State Opera. From the 2017/18 season he worked as a dramaturg at the Bavarian State Opera, collaborating with directors such as Mateja Koležnik, Barrie Kosky, Katie Mitchell and Axel Ranisch, and supervising the student academy of the Bavarian State Opera. In 2021/22 he became a dramaturg at the Vienna State Opera. Here he has continued his collaboration with Barrie Kosky, including providing dramaturgical support for a Mozart-Da Ponte cycle. Other projects have led him to work with directors including Calixto Bieito, Tatjana Gürbaca, Herbert Fritsch, Claus Guth and Magdalena Fuchsberger, with whom he also worked as a guest dramaturg at Theater Münster.
Nikolaus Stenitzer regularly publishes essays and texts, most recently in the fields of literature and criticism.
