Biography

Robert Carsen

Current as of November 2023

Born in Canada, Robert Carsen trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, before moving into directing, lighting and set design.

His theatre credits include Oedipus Rex for the Greek Theatre, Siracusa (which won both “Le Maschere del Teatro Italiano” Prize 2023 and the Italian Critics Prize 2022 for best theatre production); Cabaret for the Lido 2 Paris; The Tempest at the Comédie Française; Mother Courage and her Children at the Piccolo Teatro Milan; Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead for the Roundabout Theater, New York; Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Bristol Old Vic; the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game in the West End and Sunset Boulevard for a UK tour; Candide, My Fair Lady, and Singin’ in the Rain at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and on tour.

His opera productions include Aida, Falstaff and Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera Covent Garden; Peter Grimes, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Don Giovanni, La Fanciulla del West and Co2 at La Scala; Mefistofele, Eugene Onegin, Falstaff and Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Salzurg Festival 2021, Der Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival 2004; La Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo (Cavalieri),  Wozzeck, Agrippina, Platée and The Turn of the Screw at the Theater an der Wien; Gerusalemme, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Manon Lescaut at the Vienna State Opera; Il Trovatore at the Bregenz Festival; The Queen of Spades, Hänsel und Gretel and Arabella at the Zurich Opera; thirteen productions for the Opéra national de Paris including Ariodante, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Rusalka, Capriccio, Les Boréades and Die Zauberflöte; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Orlando, The Magic Flute, Semele and Rigoletto for the Festival d’Aix en Provence.

Further productions include Ariadne auf Naxos in Munich; The Love for Three Oranges at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Die Tote Stadt for the Komische Oper Berlin; Der Ring des Nibelungen in Cologne, Venice, Shanghai, Barcelona and Madrid; I Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana, Carmen, Fidelio and Dialogues des Carmélites in Amsterdam; Rinaldo and l’incoronazione di Poppea at Glyndebourne; La traviata for the reopening of the Teatro la Fenice in Venice; Idomeneo and Julius Caesar (Battistelli) for the Rome Opera; Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, Elektra and Fidelio for the Maggio, Florence; Platée and Les Fêtes Vénitiennes at the Opéra Comique; Armide (Lully), Orfeo ed Euridice, and Iphigénie en Tauride at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. He has also staged a Puccini cycle at the Flanders Opera, and a Janáček cycle at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg.

Working as artistic director and set designer for museum exhibitions,  Robert Carsen has created Marie-Antoinette, Bohèmes and Volez, Voguez, Voyagez – Louis Vuitton in Paris at the Grand Palais; L’Impressionisme et la Mode and Splendeurs et misères at the Musée d’Orsay; Charles Garnier at the École nationale des Beaux-Arts; and Dalida at the Musée Galliera. He has also designed Fashion and Impressionism and Magritte at the Art Institute of Chicago and Painting the Modern Garden at the Royal Academy in London. For Chanel and Fendi, Robert Carsen conceived, directed, designed and filmed Karl For Ever at the Grand Palais, a celebration of the life of Karl Lagerfeld.

An Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France and an Officer of the Order of Canada, Robert Carsen has received many prizes including the 2021 International Opera Award for directing, the Prix du Syndicat de la critique in France (three times), and the Italian Critics’ “Abbiati” Award (five times), as well as the Prix XXI in Spain and the Italian Opera Star Award. He has just been awarded the first Grand Prix de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Future projects include Werther in Baden-Baden (opening November 24 2023), Detlev Glanert’s new opera Die Jüdin von Toledo for the Semperoper Dresden, La Clemenza di Tito for the Whitsun Festival in Salzburg, Cesti’s L’Orontea for La Scala and the continuation of the cycle of Oedipus plays (Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone) at the Greek Theatre in Siracusa.

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