Henning Ruhe appointed as the new Artistic Director Opera/Drama at the Göteborg Opera

Henning Ruhe, Germany, is the new Artistic Director Opera/Drama at the Göteborg Opera. He is currently Head of Artistic Administration at Bayerische Staatsoper (the Bavarian State Opera) and will take up his new position in January 2020.

– We are very pleased to have recruited Henning Ruhe, who fulfills every criteria we were looking for in a new Artistic Director. He has both a deep and broad knowledge of the international music theatre world, and is an experienced, daring, perceptive leader with strong energy. He is well-versed in large and complex organizations, with many years’ experience at the highest international level. I’m looking forward to a close, inspiring and productive collaboration, says the Göteborg Opera’s CEO, Christina Björklund.

Henning was born 1978 in Hamburg, and studied at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar. As a pianist he won awards at many national and international competitions, has given many solo recitals, chamber music concerts and song recitals in both Europe and America in venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, the Lucerne Festival and the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow. As a soloist he performed with theStaatskapelle Weimar, the Jena Philharmonie and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Moldova.

Henning studied Arts Management and has worked in this capacity at the Staatsoper Berlin, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, at IMG Artists in New York, and since 2008 at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, as director of (sequentially) Education & Outreach, Young Artists’ Program, and International Projects & Touring. In 2017 he took up the position as Head of Artistic Administration, which included repertoire planning and casting, and worked closely with creative teams. He is the Artistic Director of the Munich Opera Festival‘s Festspiel Studio for contemporary music. He has a broad international network and is on the board of directors of Opera Europa (the organization for European professional opera companies and festivals).

– I am very much looking forward to my new role at GöteborgsOperan. This theatre has an international reputation for its colorful and high quality program. The people who work there are very passionate about the art, and the infrastructure of the theatre offers wonderful possibilities for inspiring performances. The position of Artistic Director of GöteborgsOperan gives me the chance to take the best from my experiences in the international opera world onstage and backstage, and to use them to create exciting moments of music theatre together with all my new colleagues. Opera has the unique potential to reach both the heart and the mind. By exploring this rich potential together with the community in Göteborg and the region my goal is to make even more people enthusiastic about this art form that is so dear to me and the members of GöteborgsOperan. I am grateful for the confidence that GöteborgsOperan has shown me and I am looking forward to our common future, says Henning Ruhe.

Henning Ruhe will take up the position as Artistic Director Opera/Drama at the Göteborg Opera 50 % 1 January 2020, full time starting after summer 2020.

Henning Ruhebiography: https://en.opera.se/om-oss/personal/portratt/henning-ruhe

For interview enquiries adressed to Henning Ruhe, please contact: Christoph.Koch@staatsoper.de, +49 89 2185 1020

For other press enquiries, please contact press@opera.se, +46 (31) 10 80 35.