Waldmeister
Music Theatre
25. Apr - 28. Apr 2025
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Josef E. Köpplinger was born in Lower Austria. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and attended seminars in New York and London.
He received his first permanent engagement through Marietheres List at the Städtische Bühnen Regensburg. His directing career has taken him from Vienna to Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, America and Japan. His repertoire covers all genres from drama and opera to operetta and musicals. He was appointed Austria's youngest artistic director for the Musical Festival Schloss Prugg/NÖ. From 2004-2007 he was acting director at the Theater in St. Gallen. In 2005, he launched the St. Gallen Author Days playwriting competition and co-founded the St. Galler Festspiele. From 2007 to 2012, Josef E. Köpplinger was artistic director of the Klagenfurt Theater. There he founded the MUT competition for musical entertainment theater in 2009 and staged the world premieres of Peter Turrini's “Silvester” and the lost Cherubini opera “Koukourgi”, which was broadcast live by 3Sat.
In addition to his international guest lecturing activities, his productions of opera, drama and musicals, some of which have won awards, have been staged at the Graz Opera, the Kammerspiele Berlin, the Volkstheater Vienna, the Opéra national du Rhin Strasbourg, the Aalto-Theater Essen, the Hamburg State Opera, the Theater in der Josefstadt Vienna, the Volksoper Vienna, the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera, the Staatstheater Nuremberg, the Bonn Opera, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Semperoper Dresden.
Josef E. Köpplinger took over the directorship of the Gärtnerplatztheater in the 2012/2013 season and has since staged productions including “Im weißen Rössl”, ‘Anything Goes’, the world premiere of Friedrich Cerha's opera ‘Onkel Präsident’, ‘Der Mann von La Mancha’, the continental premiere of ‘Tschitti Tschitti Bäng Bäng’, ‘Die Zirkusprinzessin’, ‘Cinderella’, the world premiere of the musical “Gefährliche Liebschaften” by Marc Schubring and Wolfgang Adenberg, “Singinʼ in the Rain”, “Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht”, “Viktoria und ihr Husar”, the world premiere of Johanna Doderer's opera “Liliom”, for which he was also responsible as librettist, “Die Faschingsfee”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Die lustige Witwe”, “My Fair Lady”, the operetta premiere of “Drei Männer im Schnee” by Thomas Pigor, “On the Town”, “Non(n)sens”, the world premiere of Johanna Doderer and Peter Turrini's opera “Schubert's Journey to Atzenbrugg”, “The Barber of Seville”, “Mozart Must Die”, “Die Fledermaus”, “The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein”, “Figaro's Wedding” and “The Magic Flute”.
In 2012, he received the “AZ Star of the Year” from the Munich press and, together with his team, the “tz Rose Bouquet”, and in 2013 the Bavarian Culture Prize. This was followed in 2014 by another “AZ Star of the Year” for the production of “Die Zirkusprinzessin”, and in 2018 he was awarded the Bavarian State Foundation Culture Prize. In 2019, Josef E. Köpplinger was awarded the “German Musical Theater Prize” for his production of the world premiere of “Three Men in the Snow”, in 2020 he received the “Orpheus Pin for Special Services to the Operetta Genre” and in 2024 a third “AZ Star of the Year” for his production of “The Magic Flute”. Also in 2024, he was awarded the Bavarian Constitutional Order and the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art I Class.
Josef E. Köpplinger was born in Lower Austria. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and attended seminars in New York and London.
He received his first permanent engagement through Marietheres List at the Städtische Bühnen Regensburg. His directing career has taken him from Vienna to Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, America and Japan. His repertoire covers all genres from drama and opera to operetta and musicals. He was appointed Austria's youngest artistic director for the Musical Festival Schloss Prugg/NÖ. From 2004-2007 he was acting director at the Theater in St. Gallen. In 2005, he launched the St. Gallen Author Days playwriting competition and co-founded the St. Galler Festspiele. From 2007 to 2012, Josef E. Köpplinger was artistic director of the Klagenfurt Theater. There he founded the MUT competition for musical entertainment theater in 2009 and staged the world premieres of Peter Turrini's “Silvester” and the lost Cherubini opera “Koukourgi”, which was broadcast live by 3Sat.
In addition to his international guest lecturing activities, his productions of opera, drama and musicals, some of which have won awards, have been staged at the Graz Opera, the Kammerspiele Berlin, the Volkstheater Vienna, the Opéra national du Rhin Strasbourg, the Aalto-Theater Essen, the Hamburg State Opera, the Theater in der Josefstadt Vienna, the Volksoper Vienna, the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera, the Staatstheater Nuremberg, the Bonn Opera, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Semperoper Dresden.
Josef E. Köpplinger took over the directorship of the Gärtnerplatztheater in the 2012/2013 season and has since staged productions including “Im weißen Rössl”, ‘Anything Goes’, the world premiere of Friedrich Cerha's opera ‘Onkel Präsident’, ‘Der Mann von La Mancha’, the continental premiere of ‘Tschitti Tschitti Bäng Bäng’, ‘Die Zirkusprinzessin’, ‘Cinderella’, the world premiere of the musical “Gefährliche Liebschaften” by Marc Schubring and Wolfgang Adenberg, “Singinʼ in the Rain”, “Das Lächeln einer Sommernacht”, “Viktoria und ihr Husar”, the world premiere of Johanna Doderer's opera “Liliom”, for which he was also responsible as librettist, “Die Faschingsfee”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Die lustige Witwe”, “My Fair Lady”, the operetta premiere of “Drei Männer im Schnee” by Thomas Pigor, “On the Town”, “Non(n)sens”, the world premiere of Johanna Doderer and Peter Turrini's opera “Schubert's Journey to Atzenbrugg”, “The Barber of Seville”, “Mozart Must Die”, “Die Fledermaus”, “The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein”, “Figaro's Wedding” and “The Magic Flute”.
In 2012, he received the “AZ Star of the Year” from the Munich press and, together with his team, the “tz Rose Bouquet”, and in 2013 the Bavarian Culture Prize. This was followed in 2014 by another “AZ Star of the Year” for the production of “Die Zirkusprinzessin”, and in 2018 he was awarded the Bavarian State Foundation Culture Prize. In 2019, Josef E. Köpplinger was awarded the “German Musical Theater Prize” for his production of the world premiere of “Three Men in the Snow”, in 2020 he received the “Orpheus Pin for Special Services to the Operetta Genre” and in 2024 a third “AZ Star of the Year” for his production of “The Magic Flute”. Also in 2024, he was awarded the Bavarian Constitutional Order and the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art I Class.
