Drese, Claus Helmut

Artistic Director

Born: 25.12.1922 in Aachen

died: 10.02.2011 in Horgen (Switzerland)

Drese studied German language and literature, philosophy and history at the universities of Cologne, Bonn and Marburg. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the concept of tragedy in new German drama.

In 1946, he began his theater career as an actor and dramaturge at the Marburg Schauspiel. Further stations were Osnabrück in 1950, Mannheim in 1952 and Heidelberg in 1959. In 1962, he moved to the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden as artistic director, where he remained until 1968.

In Wiesbaden, he made a name for himself as an opera director with productions of "Die Frau ohne Schatten", "Der Rosenkavalier" and "Tristan und Isolde". Together with the dancer Imre Keres, he led the ballet, which until then had been more of a "moving extras", to independent artistic creation. With Peter Weiss' (1916-1982) "Marat", he made an impact in drama that reached far beyond Wiesbaden (invitation to the second Berlin Theatertreffen in 1965). He enriched the International May Festival with Eastern European productions. He tried to win over his audience for the theater through active contact with the public, including with lectures and introductory evenings for premieres.

From 1968-75, Drese was general director of opera and drama at the Bühnen der Stadt Köln, where the Wallenstein trilogy directed by Hansgünther Heyme attracted particular international attention during this period. From 1975-86 he was director of the Zurich Opera House. Under his direction, Zurich Opera achieved exemplary status.

The legendary Monteverdi cycle under the musical direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, which was shown at various festivals and also made into a film, fell into his era. Drese was director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986-91. However, following criticism of the repertoire and internal disputes, his contract was not renewed.

Drese was made an honorary member of the State Opera in April 1991 and ended his time as director with a performance of "Otello" with Plácido Domingo - and 101 curtains. In 1991-96 he took over the artistic planning of the new Megaro Mousikis Music Center in Athens as a consultant.

Drese also appeared as an author. He only retired from active theater work in the last few years before his death.