Ingo Kerkhof
After studying in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, Ingo Kerkhof first worked as an assistant director at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1997 he founded the successful ensemble "Kerkhof-Produktion". Invitations to the Intercity Festival in Florence, the Zürcher Theaterspektakel and the Festival Theater der Welt followed.
Ingo Kerkhof has staged opera and drama in Berlin, Bern, Düsseldorf, Florence, Freiburg, Hamburg, Hanover, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Linz, Mannheim, Munich, Vienna and Zurich, among other places.
He has been a regular guest at the Cologne Opera, most recently with Berg's "Wozzeck," at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, most recently with Janáček's "Jenůfa" and Massenet's "Werther," and at the Hanover State Opera, most recently with R. Strauss' "Salome" and Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea."
In addition to pieces of the classical opera repertoire, he has devoted himself above all to contemporary music theater. He staged Rihm's "Dionysos", Haas' "Morgen und Abend" and Ruzicka's "Benjamin" for the Theater Heidelberg, Krása's "Verlobung im Traum" at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Eötvös' "Angels in America" at the Theater Freiburg.
For the Berlin State Opera, in addition to Salvatore Sciarrino's "Lohengrin" and the world premiere of "Comeback" by Oscar Strasnoy, Kerkhof realized the rediscovery of Agostino Steffani's opera "Amor vien dal destino", which was developed together with René Jacobs and received national acclaim.
The International May Festival Wiesbaden presented Kerkhof's world premiere of Oehring's "Agota" with Dagmar Manzel and the Ensemble Modern. For the Dortmund Opera followed the German premiere of Francesconi's opera "Quartett" after Heiner Müller as well as the German premiere of György Kurtág's opera "Fin de parti".
Teaching activities led Ingo Kerkhof to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar, to the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding in Munich and to the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2022, Ingo Kerkhof has been a professor of music theater at the Kunstuniversität Graz.
