Calixto Bieito

Calixto Bieito is Spanish. He was born in Miranda de Ebro (Burgos) and lives in Basel. He studied literature and art history at the University of Barcelona, directing at the Theater Institute of the Disputació, and performance at the Escuela de Arte Dramático in Tarragona. Calixto Bieito's artistic profile was shaped by his beginnings in Barcelona, where he directed the Teatre Romea for ten years, organized the Festival Internacional de las Artes de Castilla y León in Salamanca, and created a global platform for projects by artists and stages with the Barcelona Internacional Teatre (bit). Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire at the Teatre Lliure was his first work for music theater. This was followed by the zarzuela La verbena de la Paloma at the Teatro Tivoli in Barcelona and Carmen at the Festival Castell de Peralada. Shakespeare's Macbeth in Salzburg (2001) and Hamlet in Edinburgh (2002) took Calixto Bieito beyond his immediate homeland. Three heavily debated productions in Hanover followed in quick succession. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Komische Oper Berlin ultimately established and solidified his reputation as one of Europe’s leading directors. Loved and hated, this production remained in the house’s repertoire for fourteen years. What characterizes all his work, in both opera and drama, as well as in newly developed formats, is a perspective of immediacy. Without "updating" the texts, Calixto Bieito finds relevance in each work for the here and now. He combines dramatic reflection with theatrical energy. Impulsiveness and visual power lead directly to the core of the pieces. While the years of theatrical formation have significantly influenced his reputation, Calixto Bieito's Sturm und Drang period is long past. His thematic interests are as diverse as their artistic implementation. Increasingly, questions about our existence come to the forefront, along with Calixto Bieito's determination to see himself as a partner and advocate for contemporary authors. Significant figures such as Jonathan Littell and Karl Ove Knausgård were at the center of music-theatrical premieres in Antwerp and Bergen in 2019. Naturally, Calixto Bieito frequently engages with the major works of many eras, from Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea (Zurich) and Purcell's The Fairy Queen (Stuttgart) to Don Giovanni and Carmen to Verdi's La forza del destino (ENO London), but their "traditions," whether real or false, play no role in his work. It is the essence of the works that Calixto Bieito knows how to distill and articulate theatrically, from Schönberg's Moses und Aron (Dresden) to Zimmermann's Die Soldaten (Zurich/Berlin/Madrid) to Reimann's Lear (Paris). Far from the canon of operatic literature, Calixto Bieito is increasingly engaging with sacred music. Beginning with Britten's War Requiem, Verdi's Messa da Requiem, and Gesualdo's madrigals, he turned to Bach's Johannes-Passion. Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine and Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Elijah followed. In 2009, Calixto Bieito was awarded the European Culture Prize by the Pro Europa Cultural Foundation in Basel. He has won awards in Dublin, Edinburgh, Munich, London, and Bilbao, the Premio Franco Abbiati in Italy, and many honors in Spain, including the Premio Ciudad de Barcelona, Premios Líricos Campoamor, Premios Ópera XXI, and Premios Ópera Actual. Since 2017, Calixto Bieito has also been the Artistic Director of the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao. Two rediscoveries of Basque composers, Arriaga's Los esclavos felices and Usandizaga's Mendi-Mendyan, were highlights of his early seasons. Currently, Calixto Bieito is directing Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen with his team at the Opéra de Paris.