Opera Director Otto Schenk has Died, Aged 94

The Austrian director was closely associated with the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera

The renowned Austrian opera director Otto Schenk has passed away at the age of 94.

Born in Vienna in 1930, Schenk briefly studied law and then trained as an actor, before launching an acting and directing career. He quickly ascended through the ranks of Viennese theater, moving from smaller playhouses up to the Burgtheater.

His first foray into the operatic world came in a production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg State Theater in 1957. In 1962, he directed the Austrian premiere of Alban Berg’s Lulu at the Theater an der Wien, in a production conducted by Karl Böhm.

In 1964, he began a fifty-year association with the Vienna State Opera, beginning with a production of Janáček’s Jenůfa. Schenk was to direct 31 different operas there, and he ended his tenure with more Janáček, a 2014 production of The Cunning Little Vixen.

At the Metropolitan Opera, Schenk was well known for his traditional and naturalistic productions of Wagner's Ring cycle, which received critical acclaim. He staged 16 productions at the Met between 1978 and 2006.

Our condolences to Schenk's family, friends, and colleagues.

"Otto Schenk is an essential, unforgettable chapter in the history of our theater," said Bogdan Roščić, Director of the Vienna State Opera. "But he was also an artist who shaped the world of theater for half a century like few others."

"As sacred as the theater was to him, he approached the works naturally and fearlessly, drawing on an immense knowledge. An infinite love for the singers went hand in hand with hard, uncompromising rehearsal work and honesty. He demanded and loved in equal measure."

"The Vienna State Opera mourns the loss of an artist who was able to draw on the intellectual and artistic wealth of the entire history of theater and communicate it brilliantly to a wide audience."