Craftsmen · Executive Manager · Artist
Klaus Kretschmer is the designer of the stage set for King Arthur
Klaus Kretschmer, born in Vienna, was given his first subscription ticket for the Vienna State Opera at the age of 12. He studied for the Matura (final school examination) at evening classes and then completed his apprenticeship as a metalworker by attaining the master diploma. These were the first stages in what subsequently became an impressive career.
Klaus Kretschmer is the designer of the
production of Purcell's King Arthur in the
coming summer.
Kretschmer constantly tries to combine craftsmanship with art in his life. Fifteen years ago when he took up the appointment at the Salzburg Festival, he was one of the youngest technical directors in Europe. He combines a sense of art and reality, he knows about the effect and possibilities of designing a stage set and above all he knows how ideas can be implemented. Thanks to Klaus Kretschmer’s extraordinary talent and knowledge he is highly appreciated as a consultant all over the world. This is the fourth time he has been asked to design a stage set for the Salzburg Festival, he designed Oberon, Alle Lust will Ewigkeit and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Three years ago he was also extremely successful in designing the millennium exhibition at the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz about Paul Gauguin.
What fascinates him about King Arthur is how a love story is entwined with the vision of Britannia. Klaus Kretschmer sees the Felsenreitschule – carved out of the rock of the Mönchsberg in 1693 – in its naturalness and he wants to try to intensify the basic idea of the space in his stage design. His aesthetic language is clear and transparent. In response to the question about what it means for him to be a stage designer he replies spontaneously, “I’m more of an architect than a painter; it’s also important to give the story a space and the director a place. The stage set is both the acoustic platform for the singers as well as the physical implementation of the staging concept.” We can look forward to something special.
Ulla Kalchmair