Alfred Kirchner

Alfred Kirchner (born 22 May 1937) is a German actor, theatre director (especially for opera) and theatre manager who is based in Berlin. He worked at theatres such as Theater Bremen, Schauspielhaus Bochum, the Burgtheater in Vienna and the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin, before turning to freelance work. He has staged productions in Europe and North America, including several world premieres of both drama and opera. He directed the premiere of Martin Walser's Ein Kinderspiel in Stuttgart in 1971, the U.S. premiere of Henze's We Come to the River at the Santa Fe Opera in 1984, and the premiere of Hans Zender's Stephen Climax at the Oper Frankfurt in 1986. In 1994, he staged Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival.

Life Kirchner was born in Göppingen, the son of a Schriftleiter.

Die kahle Sängerin, Stuttgart 1974

Das Sauspiel by Walser, with music by Mikis Theodorakis, Schauspielhaus Hamburg 1976, world premiere Sonntagskinder by Gerlind Reinshagen, Stuttgart 1976, world premiere

Jenůfa, conductor Michael Gielen, Oper Frankfurt 1979 Die Heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe, Bochum 1980, Amsterdam 1981 Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, Bochum 1981 Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh by Thomas Bernhard, Bochum 1981, world premiere at the Ludwigsburg Festival

We Come to the River by Henze, conductor Dennis Russell Davies, Santa Fe Opera 1984, U.S. premiere

An der Donau by Herbert Achternbusch, Akademietheater 1987, world premiere Die Minderleister by Peter Turrini, Akademietheater 1987, world premiere, also at the Mülheimer Theatertage

Don Giovanni, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Amsterdam 1988 Idomeneo, Hamburg State Opera 1990 Die Nase by Shostakovich, Oper Leipzig 1997

by Henze after Miguel de Cervantes, Montepulciano 2006, for the composer's 80th birthday

Lohengrin, conductor Graeme Jenkins, Dallas Opera 2007 Tristan und Isolde, conductor Ingo Metzmacher, Amsterdam 2008 Tosca, Volksoper Vienna 2009

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Vienna 2010 and Tokyo 2012

Hermann und Dorothea, Burgtheater 2016, also Berliner Ensemble and Ruhrfestspiele 2017