Barrie Kosky

Barrie KoskyBarrie Kosky's name is sometimes misspelled as Barry Kosky, Barrie Koski, Barrie Koskie.] (born 1967 in Melbourne) is an Australian theatre and opera director.Kosky also plays the piano, as he did in his production of Monteverdi's "Poppea"]

Biography

Barrie Kosky is the son of Jewish emigrés from Europe. He said that seeing Steven Berkoff and Lindsay Kemp were two pivotal moments in his childhood. [Toby Creswell, Samantha Trenoweth: "1001 Australian You Should Know", Pluto Press, p.137, ISBN 9781864033618]

Kosky attended Melbourne Grammar School where he directed his first play. Among many other later famous Australian artists, he also worked ath the St Martins Youth Arts Centre. In 1985, he then began studies in Music History at the University of Melbourne. [cite web
url = http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news_print.asp?pgID=4136
title = From operatic epic to understated horror
accessdate = 2008-09-18
author =
last = Levin
first = Darren
date = Date|2007-10-02
publisher = Australian Jewish News]

Career

In 1989 Kosky directed the Australian premiere of Michael Tippett's "The Knot Garden" (reduced version) at the Melbourne Spoleto Festival. In 1990 he formed the Gilgul TheatreAt the Gilgul, Kosky worked with the set designer Peter Corrigan on many productions; this collaboration continued later, e.g. on "Oedipus Rex", "Nabucco", "Lear".] which staged "The Exile Trilogy" in 1993 ("The Dybbuk", "Es Brent", "Levad") at the Belvoir St Theatre; Kosky was artistic manager of the Gilgul Theatre until 1998. Other notable productions with the Gilgul Theatre where "The Wilderness Room" and a stage adaptation of "The Operated Jew".

For the Victorian State Opera he directed in 1991 "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Barber of Seville". In 1993 he directed the premiere season of Larry Sitsky's opera "The Golem" for Opera Australia which was also released on ABC Classics. Also in 1993 he directed Goethe's Faust I and II for the Melbourne Theatre Company, and Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" for Opera Queensland.

In 1996 he directed "Nabucco" (recorded on DVD by ABC Television. [Verdi — "Nabucco" / Opera Australia, Jonathan Summers (1996) ASIN|B0015NR2FC] ) and "The Flying Dutchman" for Opera Australia, a work which he revisited in 2006 at the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen, Germany. Also in 1996, Kosky was appointed director of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, at 29 years the youngest person ever appointed to that position. Following that appointment, the 50-minute documentary "Kosky In Paradise" examined his ideas and creative motivations. [ [http://www.afc.gov.au/filmsandawards/filmdbsearch.aspx?=keyword&view=title&title=KOSKYP "Kosky In Paradise" (Screen Australia)] ]

In 1997 he directed Molière's "Tartuffe" in Christopher Hampton's translation at the Sydney Theatre Company (STC). In 1998 he directed "Mourning Becomes Electra" for the STC, and "King Lear" for the Bell Shakespeare Company's touring production. In 1999 Kosky directed Alban Berg's "Wozzeck" for the Sydney Opera House. In 2000, Kosky directed Ted Hughes' adaption of Seneca's Oedipus a the Sydney Theatre Company.

From 2001 to 2005 Kosky was co-director of the Schauspielhaus Wien, a small theatre venue (280 seats) for contemporary German plays in Vienna. [ [http://www.schauspielhaus.at/jart/prj3/schauspielhaus/main.jart?rel=de&content-id=1192546361335&reserve-mode=active Schauspielhaus Wien — Geschichte und Archiv (in German)] ] There he directed Euripides' "Medea" with the Australian actress Melita Jurisic Jurisic also played in Kosky's "Poppea" and many others of his productions.] ); the production was nominated for the Nestroy-Theaterpreis (Nestroy Theatre Prize). He also directed there "The Tales of Hoffmann", "Macbeth" in an all-female version,Kosky had staged a "Macbeth" during his university years in Melbourne with Libbi Gorr in the title role] [ [http://www.smh.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2008/06/25/1214073333251.html Bryce Hallett: Kosky to head Berlin opera house] , The Sydney Morning Herald), Date|2008-06-26] and "Boulevard Delirium" with Paul Capsis which toured around the world for several seasons, including Australia where it won a 2006 Helpmann Award. His staging of Claudio Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" at the "Innsbrucker Festwochen für Alte Musik" under the musical direction of René Jacobs was also shown at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden; that production was broadcast on German TV by RBB/arte. [Imdb title|1277959|L'Orfeo|(2007)] Also in 2005, Kosky directed Wagner's "Lohengrin" for the Wiener Staatsoper.

In 2006 he directed with Tom WrightKosky and Tom Wright have worked together on several projects; their collaboration started when both where at Melbourne University.] the eight-hour play "The Lost Echo" –based on Ovid's Metamorphoses and Euripides' "The Bacchae"– for the Actors Company at the STC; the play won five Helpmann Awards. [ [http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/default.aspx?s=winners&year=2007 Helpmann Awards Winners 2007] ] In the same year, Kosky directed in Germany "The Flying Dutchman" at the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen, Britten's "Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Theater Bremen and revived "Le Grand Macabre" for Graz.

In 2007 Kosky presented his Vienna production of Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea", a strongly modified version of the original opera, at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival. [cite web
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/08/14/btpoppea114.xml
title = Edinburgh: Chilling interpretation of a savage classic
accessdate = 2008-09-16
author =
last = Christiansen
first = Rupert
date = Date|2007-08-14
publisher = The Daily Telegraph] In that year, he also directed Peter Grimes for the Staatsoper Hannover, and "Tristan und Isolde" for the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen which received a nomination for the Faust Award.

In January 2008, he directed at the same house "Mahagonny" which received boos during and after the performance, unfavourable reviews, and played before half-empty houses. [cite web
url = http://www.opernnetz.de/seiten/rezensionen/ess_maha.htm
title = Jüdische Volksoper?
accessdate = 2008-09-23
last = Schulte im Walde
first = Christoph
year = 2008
month = January
publisher = Opernnetz.de
language = German] [cite web
url = http://www.derwesten.de/nachrichten/staedte/essen/2008/4/11/news-37233544/detail.html
title = Viele Zuschauer, wenig Geld — Die Saison 2008/09 in Oper und Ballett
accessdate = 2008-09-23
last = Aschendorf
first = Dirk
date = Date|2008-04-11
publisher = Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
language = German] In April 2008 Kosky was participant in the "Towards a Creative Australia" stream at the Australia 2020 Summit. In July 2008 he directed the premiere of Liza Lim's opera "The Navigator" at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts as part of the Brisbane Festival 2008, a work which Lim had developed during her stay in Berlin; Kosky had also directed her earlier opera "Orestia" (1993). In September 2008 Kosky directed Euripides' "The Women of Troy" with Melita Jurisic and Robyn Nevin in an adaptation by himself and Tom Wright at the Sydney Theatre Company. In August 2008 Melbourne University Publishing published an essay by Kosky, "On Ecstasy" (ISBN 978-0-522-85534-0).In this collection of four essays (more are planned), Kosky was the only one not primarily a writer; the others were David Malouf, Germaine Greer and Blanche d'Alpuget.]

Following several productions in the past at the Komische Oper Berlin, including "Le Grand Macabre" (2003), "The Marriage of Figaro" (2005), Gluck's "Iphigénie en Tauride" and "Kiss Me, Kate" (2007) (broadcast on German TV 3sat in 2008), Koskie has been appointed Chief Director at the Komische Oper commencing in the 2012/2013 season.

Notes

References

Literature

*Bauer, Jürgen (2008): "No Escape. Aspekte des Jüdischen im Theater von Barrie Kosky". Edition Steinbauer, Wien. ISBN 978-3-902494-34-4 (in German)

External links

* [http://www.komische-oper-berlin.com/kuenstler/detailansicht_satelite.php?user=13988&id_language=2 List of productions (Komische Oper Berlin)]
* [http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/lit/theatres/kosky,%20barry.htm Biography, works, assessment]
* [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24132686-15089,00.html Lengthy and wide ranging interview] by Graeme Blundell