Deutsche Oper am Rhein Names New General Director

Ina Karr has ended her contract in Lucerne early to take up the role, and becomes the first woman to lead the house

The Deutsche Oper am Rhein has announced that Ina Karr, previously director of the Lucerne Theater, has been appointed as its new general manager and managing director from the 2027/2028 season, for an initial term of five years.

She succeeds Christoph Meyer, who has resigned following sixteen years of service on account of health issues, and in doing so, Karr becomes the first woman to lead the house.

The Artistic Director and CEO of the Lucerne Theater since 2021, Karr has also held executive positions at a number of different houses, including as dramaturg and press spokeswoman for opera at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, as opera director at the Oldenburg State Theatre, and as head dramaturg for opera at the Staatstheater Mainz. She has also worked for the Salzburg Festival and for contemporary music and music theatre organizations, such as Festival Eclat.

Karr has collaborated closely with a number of directors, including Elisabeth Stöppler and Lydia Steier, among others. In the summer of 2018, she was a production dramaturg at the Salzburg Festival for Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, also directed by Steier.

"I am very pleased that we have been able to win Ina Karr, an experienced director for the future Managing Director General Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein," said Dr. Stephan Keller, Mayor of Düsseldorf. "She is well connected and has comprehensive leadership skills. We are sure that, thanks to her versatile experience, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein will further establish itself as one of the leading opera and ballet stages in Europe."

"I am very much looking forward to my time at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein," Karr said. "I am attracted by the creative potential of this special theatre partnership Düsseldorf-Duisburg and thus the artistic connection between two – in such various ways – cities."

"For me, music theatre and ballet become lively and attractive through a rich repertoire, a lot of closeness to the audience and the city, and above all through large, brilliant, self-confident ensembles: I see the DOR as the house of artists. With them and the many employees, we want to create a schedule that tells our stories through music, past and present."