Nina Kühner (Germany)

Stagecraft

Nina Kühner was born in Bad Hersfeld and studied Drama, New German Literature and Communication Sciences in Munich. Already during her studies she worked as a freelance assistant director at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz In 1997 she was hired as assistant director for the theater's festival. In 1999 she moved to the Nuremberg Opera for two years as an assistant director and stage manager and returned to Munich in 2001 in the same position. She worked with directors Hellmuth Matiasek, Wolfgang Gropper, Harry Kupfer, Olivier Tambosi, Rosamund Gilmore and Claus Guth. For Claus Guth, she directed the revival of his production of Der Wildschütz at the Nuremberg Opera in 2001, and in 2009 she revived his Basel production of Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini at the Leipzig Opera.

Nina Kühner gave her debut as a director at the Nuremberg Opera in 2002 with the world premiere of the children's opera Ich bin Du or the Robbery of Futurina by Elena Mendoza-Lopéz, commissioned by the Dresden Center for Contemporary Music. This was followed by productions for the International Chamber Music Festival Nuremberg: The Rape of Lucretia (2003) and The Turn of the Screw (2004) by Britten and Dido and Aeneas (2006) by Purcell.

In 2009, Nina Kühner staged Donizetti's opera VIVA LA MAMMA! at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz Munich. At the Salzburg State Theater she directed  L`ELISIR D`AMORE by Donizetti in 2010, for which she was awarded the Audience Award for the most popular production in music theater 2010/2011.

For the International Chamber Music Festival Nuremberg in 2011 she staged Britten's OWEN WINGRAVE, to acclaim from the press and audiences alike.

In the season 2011/2012 she revived Guth's Basel production of Rossini's BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA fat the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and staged Handel's IMENEO at the Salzburg State Theater. For the International Chamber Music Festival Nuremberg 2012, she directed the music theater evening MAL HERE ONCE - BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE, followed in 2013 by the musical DRACULA at the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding in Munich.

After her success at the Theater Trier, where Nina Kühner made her house debut in the 2014/15 season with Mozart's LA CLEMENZA DI TITO, she staged Rossini's LA SCALA DI SETA at the Theater Bielefeld in 2015/16.