Michael v. zur Mühlen, *1979, studied musicology and philosophy at the Humboldt University Berlin and music theatre directing at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin. He has been staging genre-spanning theatre, opera and contemporary music theatre since 2004. Among others at the Forum Neues Musiktheater of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Volksbühne at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin, the Leipzig Opera, the Nationaltheater Weimar, the DT Göttingen, the Staatstheater Darmstadt, the Staatsoper Berlin and the Oper Halle. An important role in his work is played by the confrontation with Bertolt Brecht, whose works Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe, Leben des Galilei, Lehrstück und Aufstieg and Fall der Stadt Mahagonny he staged. On the Mahagonny production, Theater der Zeit wrote: “This is capitalism criticism at the height of its subject.”
He is a regular guest at panel discussions (Salzburg Festival, Academy of Arts, Berlin State Opera, Brechthaus Berlin) and published essays and contributions to music and theatre in magazines such as Die Deutsche Bühne and Theater der Zeit. In the 2016/17–2020/21 seasons, he was director and head of dramaturgy in the management team of Oper Halle, whose advanced programme has received great attention throughout Germany since the artistic relaunch in the summer of 2016 and has been honoured several times with prizes and awards. For example, in the 17/18 season review of the magazine Die Deutsche Bühne, Oper Halle received the most mentions in the category “Most convincing theatre work away from large theatre centres” and was awarded the Theaterpreis des Bundes in 2019. The two-year project I like africa and africa likes me, I like europe and europe likes me., which he initiated together with the artist collective angermayr/goerge/somé/traoré/vanschoor on the decolonisation of opera was voted the “most innovative format” of the season in Deutsche Bühne's 2019 season survey. About his Verdi's production of Aida, DIE ZEIT wrote: “This performance marks a precedent. It shows what opera in the 21st century can do when it is discursively up to date and aesthetically of captivating permeability,” and Jürgen Otten writes in Opernwelt about his most recent production Im Stein at Oper Halle: “Worth seeing: the opera film Im Stein, based on the music theatre of the same name by Sara Glojnarić and Clemens Meyer (...) a wonderfully crazy-absurd art work of music, text, visual fantasies and politically precise commentary.” In addition to his work as a director and theatre manager, Michael v. zur Mühlen teaches in the field of directing, dramaturgy and theatre theory. In 2019, he held the Bertolt Brecht Guest Professorship of the City of Leipzig. In the 2019/20 season, v. zur Mühlen staged Iphigenie auf Tauris by J.W.v. Goethe at the Staatstheater Braunschweig. The world premiere of opera, opera, opera! revenants and revolutions by Ole Hübner and Thomas Köck, planned for the Munich Biennale for New Music Theater at the Cuvilliés Theater, had to be postponed due to Corona and was transformed into an audio installation that could be seen for the first time in Munich in March 2022. His production of the music theatre premiere Im Stein by Sara Glojnarić and Clemens Meyer had its premiere at Oper Halle in June 2021 and was named “important stream of the season” by the magazine die Opernwelt and was nominated for the German theatre award DER FAUST in the category “sound and media”.
12.06.2023
