He staged "Tannhäuser" in Bayreuth in 2019 and has worked for opera houses in Paris, London and Brussels. But soon the freelance opera director Tobias scratches settled down. Because the native Bavarian gets a top-class post in Hamburg.
Hamburg (dpa / lby) - The rejuvenation process at the Hamburg State Opera continues. A few weeks ago, the successor to the legendary ballet director John Neumeier was announced and now the new opera director has also been chosen: From the summer of 2025, the 42-year-old director Tobias scratches, who was born in Bavaria, will take over the opera directorship of the house, as the cultural authorities announced on announced on Friday in Hamburg. "With Tobias scratches we can win one of the currently most exciting directors for the directorship of the Hamburg State Opera. He convinced the selection committee with a clear and ambitious future plan for the opera," said Hamburg's Senator for Culture Carsten Brosda (SPD). The supervisory board unanimously decided on the personnel on Friday.
With numerous productions in recent years, the native Bavarian has proven "that he can inspire the audience for opera with all his energy and his fresh perspective". Among other things, in 2019 in Bayreuth, scratches staged a highly acclaimed and award-winning "Tannhäuser". In addition, he was named Opera Director of the Year 2020 in the critics' survey in the "Opernwelt" yearbook and received the Oper! Award from the magazine "Oper!" awarded as best director.
The freelance opera director scratches for 15 years succeeds Georges Delnon, who has been opera director of the Hamburg State Opera since 2015 and whose contract will end by mutual agreement at the end of the 2024/25 season.
With the end of this season, three important men are leaving the State Opera in one fell swoop: Because the contracts of the long-standing ballet director John Neumeier and the general music director Kent Nagano will then expire.
The change of staff should also be used for a new beginning with tradition, as Senator for Culture Brosda said. "Together with the new ballet director Demis Volpi, who has already been won for the Hamburg Ballet, and the managing director of the opera, Ralf Klöter, Tobias scratches will lead the Hamburg State Opera into a new era and, based on the tradition of the house, set strong contemporary artistic impulses."
scratch was looking forward to his new commitment in Hamburg on Friday. "As director in charge, I will continuously stage productions at the Hamburg State Opera and help shape the musical and scenic performance culture of the house in the years to come." He looks forward to opening another chapter in the spirit of the varied history of the house. He already promised the audience exciting evenings on Dammtorstrasse. "I wish that you leave every performance of my directorship in a good mood, intellectually stimulated and with the desire to come back."
