August Everding

August Everding (German pronunciation: [ˈaʊɡʊst ˈeːvɐdɪŋ]) (31 October 1928; Bottrop, Germany – 26 January 1999; Munich) was a German opera director and administrator.

He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Munich, where launching his career in the 1950s. He was a member of the Roman Catholic fraternity Katholischer Studentenverein Arminia Bonn, a founder fraternities of the Kartellverband katholischer deutscher Studentenvereine. From 1968 onwards he worked as a director in Hamburg, before moving back to Munich in 1977 to become the General Intendant of the Bayerische Staatsoper. In the following years he also directed in Bayreuth, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurich Opera,

In 1988 the Prinzregententheater was renovated under his patronage and could be reopend as theatre and opera house. It also houses the Bavarian Theatre Academy.

His productions were seen in all the major international houses: Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival. the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, La Scala, Milan, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera New York, San Francisco Opera and Opera Australia.

In the 1980s and 1990s he interviewed a great many famous opera singers on German television, including Hans Hotter, Carlo Bergonzi, Otto Edelmann, Astrid Varnay, Gundula Janowitz, Karl Ridderbusch, Birgit Nilsson, Irmgard Seefried, Martha Mödl, Gustav Neidlinger, Hans Hopf, Hans Sotin, Franz Crass and Josef Greindl. Many of these interviews can now be viewed on YouTube in German.

Recordings

Many of his classic productions are preserved on DVD, including Hänsel und Gretel (1981) (Deutsche Grammophon B000AXSKB8), and Die Zauberflöte (Deutsche Grammophon B000ASAEQW). He was one of the founder members of a society of the revolutionary thoughts on theaters and individual thinking and this was reflected in his works.

External links

• August Everding interview by Bruce Duffie