Christoph Meyer
General Director
© Susanne Diesner
Christoph Meyer was born in Lüneburg in 1960 and has been General Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg since the 2009/10 season.
He studied Theatre Studies and Music in Munich from 1981 to 1985 while simultaneously working as an Assistant Director at a number of opera houses across Germany. His first full-time engagement followed from 1985 to 1989 as Assistant Director and Evening Performance Manager at Nationaltheater Mannheim. From 1990 to 1995 Meyer worked at Cologne Opera under Prof. Michael Hampe – initially as a Staff Director and from 1993 in the additional role of Chief Scheduler and Head of the Artistic Production Office. While he was working at Cologne Opera, he also undertook numerous directing duties as a visiting lecturer at the Cologne Academy of Music. From 1995 to 2000 he worked as Director of Artistic Production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, where he was responsible for repertoire planning working as part of a team with the Artistic Director.
In June 2000 was Christoph Meyer was appointed by Prof. Götz Friedrich as General Secretary of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In this capacity he represented the General Director in all artistic matters of repertoire planning and casting. Following Prof. Götz Friedrich’s sudden death in December 2000, Meyer was collectively responsible for all artistic affairs together with the Administrative Director of the time and the temporary Artistic Director, André Schmitz, running the opera house until a new Artistic Director took office.
During the years 2001 to 2003 he held various contracts as an artistic advisor, which included the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza in Granada and the Fundación de Cultura La Caixa in Barcelona. From 2004 to 2006, Meyer was Opera Director at Theater Basel. From January 2007, Christoph Meyer as Opera Director was entrusted with running Opernhaus Leipzig in conjunction with the temporary Artistic Director. In parallel with this, from September 2007, he started to prepare his term as General Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg.
In the course of his career, he has directed productions and revivals of numerous operas at Staatstheater Saarbrücken, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Opera Bastille Paris, Oper Leipzig, La Fenice opera house in Venice, Opera Montpellier and in Tokyo.
Christoph Meyer has been a regular member of juries for numerous prestigious singing competitions including the international Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna, the Competizione dell’Opera in Dresden, the Bidu Sayao in Brazil and Neue Stimmen in Gütersloh. He has been a member of CPDO (Chambre Professionnelle des Directeurs D’Opéra / Paris) since 2004. Christoph Meyer has been an Honorary Professor at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf since May 2011. In December 2014 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Gheorge Dima Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, for his work to promote talented young singers.
He studied Theatre Studies and Music in Munich from 1981 to 1985 while simultaneously working as an Assistant Director at a number of opera houses across Germany. His first full-time engagement followed from 1985 to 1989 as Assistant Director and Evening Performance Manager at Nationaltheater Mannheim. From 1990 to 1995 Meyer worked at Cologne Opera under Prof. Michael Hampe – initially as a Staff Director and from 1993 in the additional role of Chief Scheduler and Head of the Artistic Production Office. While he was working at Cologne Opera, he also undertook numerous directing duties as a visiting lecturer at the Cologne Academy of Music. From 1995 to 2000 he worked as Director of Artistic Production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, where he was responsible for repertoire planning working as part of a team with the Artistic Director.
In June 2000 was Christoph Meyer was appointed by Prof. Götz Friedrich as General Secretary of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In this capacity he represented the General Director in all artistic matters of repertoire planning and casting. Following Prof. Götz Friedrich’s sudden death in December 2000, Meyer was collectively responsible for all artistic affairs together with the Administrative Director of the time and the temporary Artistic Director, André Schmitz, running the opera house until a new Artistic Director took office.
During the years 2001 to 2003 he held various contracts as an artistic advisor, which included the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza in Granada and the Fundación de Cultura La Caixa in Barcelona. From 2004 to 2006, Meyer was Opera Director at Theater Basel. From January 2007, Christoph Meyer as Opera Director was entrusted with running Opernhaus Leipzig in conjunction with the temporary Artistic Director. In parallel with this, from September 2007, he started to prepare his term as General Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg.
In the course of his career, he has directed productions and revivals of numerous operas at Staatstheater Saarbrücken, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Opera Bastille Paris, Oper Leipzig, La Fenice opera house in Venice, Opera Montpellier and in Tokyo.
Christoph Meyer has been a regular member of juries for numerous prestigious singing competitions including the international Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna, the Competizione dell’Opera in Dresden, the Bidu Sayao in Brazil and Neue Stimmen in Gütersloh. He has been a member of CPDO (Chambre Professionnelle des Directeurs D’Opéra / Paris) since 2004. Christoph Meyer has been an Honorary Professor at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf since May 2011. In December 2014 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Gheorge Dima Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, for his work to promote talented young singers.