Jörn Weisbrodt

Jörn Weisbrodt (born 26 January 1973) is a German arts administrator, singer, and former artistic director of the Luminato Festival, Toronto's annual Festival of Arts and Creativity. He is currently the artistic director of ALL ARTS, a streaming platform and broadcast channel from WNET.

Early life and education Weisbrodt was born in Hamburg and studied opera direction at the Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory in Berlin, graduating in 2000. While still a student, he worked closely with directors Ruth Berghaus, Heiner Müller, Peter Stein, Peter Konwitschny and Robert Wilson. He became Wilson's personal assistant and also interned at The Watermill Center, Wilson's Performance Laboratory on Long Island, New York. It was here that Weisbrodt decided he would rather be an arts facilitator

Career After his graduation, Weisbrodt worked for management consulting firm McKinsey & Company

In 2006, Weisbrodt moved to the United States to become executive director of Robert Wilson's company RW Work Ltd. and Director of the Watermill Center. At Watermill he was responsible for developing inter-disciplinary performances and installations He also oversaw the launch of a residency for emerging international artists.

In 2018, Weisbrodt was appointed artistic director of ALL ARTS, WNET's new streaming platform and broadcast channel.

Luminato Festival

Weisbrodt first collaborated with Luminato to host the North American premiere of Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna (2010) Weisbrodt's vision for the Festival was to create connections between the disciplines and promote collaborations between artists from different fields.

Luminato's program of events during Weisbrodt's appointment included the North American premiere of Robert Lepage's Playing Cards: SPADES, the North American premiere of Robert Wilson's The Life and Death of Marina Abramović and the world premiere of Marina Abramović Institute—Prototype, the world premiere of Ronnie Burkett's Daisy Theatre, Pina Bausch's Kontakthof by Tanztheater Wuppertal, a retrospective of avant-garde artist Matthew Barney, the world premiere of Kid Koala's Nufonia Must Fall, the world premieres of Terence Koh's tomorrow's snow and a way to the light, the Canadian premiere of Paradisiacal Rites by Saint Genet and the world premiere of If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway—An Evening of Love Duets.

Weisbrodt believed that Toronto was on the verge of becoming a city of global and cultural importance and that the Festival could attract artists to live and work in it

Personal life

Weisbrodt married his partner, singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright, in Montauk, Long Island, in August 2012. They have a daughter, in a "parenting partnership" with friend Lorca Cohen, daughter of Leonard Cohen.