Alfred Kirchner

Alfred Kirchner (born 22 May 1937) is a German actor, theatre director (especially for opera) and theatre manager who is based in Berlin.

He worked at theatres such as Theater Bremen, Schauspielhaus Bochum, the Burgtheater in Vienna and the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin, before turning to freelance work.

He has staged productions in Europe and North America, including several world premieres of both drama and opera.

At the Theater Bremen from 1964 to 1971, he first assisted Peter Zadek and Peter Palitzsch.

Kirchner is married; the couple have two daughters and live in Berlin and Stuttgart.

Kirchner's first theatre staging was Hall/Waterhouse's Lügen-Billy in Bremen in 1965.

He worked at the Schauspielhaus Bochum with Hans Schalla.

He directed the premiere of Martin Walser's Ein Kinderspiel in Stuttgart in 1971, the U.S. premiere of Henze's We Come to the River at the Santa Fe Opera in 1984, and the premiere of Hans Zender's Stephen Climax at the Oper Frankfurt in 1986.

From 1972 to 1979, he led the drama section of the Staatstheater Stuttgart as Oberspielleiter.

From 1974, he was a member of the board of directors there, together with Claus Peymann.

He staged as a guest at international theatres, opera houses and festivals, including New York City, the Wiener Festwochen, the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and the Mülheimer Theatertage.

In 1979, he and other members of the Stuttgart theatre moved with Peymann to Bochum.

When Peymann moved again to the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1986, Kirchner followed.

From 1989/90, he tried with Vera Sturm, Alexander Lang and Volkmar Clauß (called the Viererbande) to rescue the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin, which closed in 1993.

Kirchner then worked as a freelance opera director, including the Oper Frankfurt, Leipzig Opera, Vienna State Opera and Hamburg State Opera.

He participated at Berliner Theatertreffen several times.

He also staged operas internationally, in Zürich, Barcelona, Oslo, Moscow, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Toulouse, Oviedo, Dallas, Santiago de Chile and often at the Santa Fe Opera, including the U.S. premieres of Henze's We Come to the River and Venus and Adonis.

In 1994, he staged Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival.

Kirchner was born in Göppingen, the son of a Schriftleiter.

He was trained as an actor at the Max-Reinhardt-Schule für Schauspiel in Berlin.

He first worked as an actor and assistant stage director (Regieassistent) at the Theater Kiel.

In 1994, he staged Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival.

Kirchner collaborated with conductors such as Michael Gielen, Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine, Gerd Albrecht, Paolo Carignani, Graeme Jenkins, Dennis Russell Davies and Bertrand de Billy.

Besides classical repertoire in drama and opera, he focused on contemporary works.

He staged world premieres of playwrights such as Martin Walser, Peter Turrini, Heiner Müller, Herbert Achternbusch, Dario Fo, Maxim Gorki and Gerlind Reinshagen and composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Hans Zender and Udo Zimmermann.

Kirchner taught at the University of Georgia, the Musikhochschule Hamburg, Hamburg University, and the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler".

Alfred Kirchner: Der Mann von Pölarölara.

Autobiografische Splitter.

Vienna: Hollitzer 2019 ISBN 978-3-99012-627-1.