Ulrich Rasche

Director Ulrich Rasche is known for his powerful opera and theatre productions, which employ constant movement and intense lighting atmospheres to create visceral experiences for audiences. A particular focus of his work is ancient Greek drama, most recently Aeschylus' «Agamemnon» in a co-production between the Athens Epidaurus Festival and the Münchner Residenztheater (2022), Sophocles' «Oedipus» at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin (2021), Aeschylus' «Die Perser» at his Salzburg Festival debut (2018), and «Sieben gegen Theben / Antigone» by Aeschylus/Sophocles at the Schauspiel Frankfurt (2017). In June 2025, he opened the Athens Epidaurus Festival with a new production of «Antigone».

Drawing on his experience with Greek tragedy and his understanding of the ancient chorus as music and rhythm, Ulrich Rasche has in recent years also turned his attention to opera: he made his debut as an opera director in 2022 with «Elektra» at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Classical music has always permeated his theatre work — with productions such as the choral project «Singing! Immateriell Arbeiten» at the Palast der Republik in Berlin (2004) and «Die Entführung aus dem Serail – Ein Monolog nach Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart» at the Berliner Sophiensælen (2010). In 2023, he directed Bach's «Johannes-Passion» at the Staatsoper Stuttgart.

Ulrich Rasche is a regular guest at the most important stages in the German-speaking world. His recent productions include Schiller's «Die Räuber» (Residenztheater, 2017), Büchner's «Woyzeck» (Theater Basel and Residenztheater, 2018), «Das große Heft» after Ágota Kristóf (Staatsschauspiel Dresden, 2019), and Lessing's «Nathan der Weise» (Salzburg Festival, 2023), all of which were invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. He directed Euripides' «Die Bakchen» for the opening of the 2018/19 season at the Wiener Burgtheater, and in 2024 staged Beckett's «Warten auf Godot» at the Schauspielhaus Bochum.

Ulrich Rasche was born near Wuppertal, where Pina Bausch's dance theatre inspired him from an early age. He studied art history and comparative literature and held a fellowship at Robert Wilson's Watermill Center. He began his career in 2002 with a production of Harold Pinter's «Betrogen» at the Sophiensælen, and went on to direct «Die Wellen» after Virginia Woolf (2007), Wilde's «Salome» (2009), and further productions at the Staatstheater Stuttgart.

His awards include the Kunstpreis Berlin 2013 from the Akademie der Künste, the Nestroy-Preis for best German-language production in 2017 and 2018 for «Die Räuber» and «Die Perser» respectively, the Oper! Award 2023 for best set designer for «Elektra», and the Hein-Heckroth-Bühnenbildpreis 2023. In 2017, he was voted set designer of the year for «Die Räuber» in the critics' poll of the theatre magazine Theater heute.