Michiel Dijkema

(stage director)

EDUCATION AND WORK
The Dutch opera stage director and set designer Michiel Dijkema studied classical piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam and at the Utrecht School of Arts. Subsequently he studied opera stage directing at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. He was active as a song accompanist and studied interpretation of song with Thom Bollen in Utrecht and with Wolfram Rieger in Berlin. He has worked with opera students of the ArtEZ Academy of Music and taught singing students and opera directing students as a guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. Furthermore, he lectured in the context of a multidisciplinary initiative at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Michiel Dijkema has won several international opera directing prizes: the 2nd prize at the European Opera-directing for the concept of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” in 2005, the 1th prize at the Peter-Konwitschny-Nachwuchsregiepreis for his concept of “Carmen” in 2006 (coproduction of Staatstheater Meiningen and Landestheater Eisenach) and the annual Estonian Theatre Award 2007 for his production of “La Cenerentola” (Estonian National Opera). The set design for “Il barbiere di Siviglia” won the 1st Wizard-Award in Berlin (2011). His production of “Der fliegende Holländer” as part of the festival WAGNER22 in Leipzig was nominated for the International Opera Awards 2022 in Madrid.

STAGINGS
Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” (Dutch National Touring Opera)
Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” (Dutch National Touring Opera)
Gounod’s “Faust” (Leipzig, Bolzano)
Bizet’s “Carmen” (Eisenach, Meiningan)
Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” (Stockholm)
Rossini’s “Il turco in Italia” (Leipzig)
Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” (Estonian National Opera, Dutch National Touring Opera)
Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia” (Wiesbaden, Antibes)
Puccini’s “Tosca” (Leipzig)
Puccini’s “Turandot” (Magdeburg)
Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana” / Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” (Darmstadt)
Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” (Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen)
Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” (Semperoper Dresden)
Haydn’s “L’isola disabitata” in trible-bill with Krenek’s “What Price Confidence” and Haydn’s “Arianna a Naxos” (Amsterdam/Den Haag)
Humperdinck’s “Händel und Gretel” (Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen)
Wagner’s “Der fliegende Holländer” (Wiesbaden, Leipzig)
Strauss’ “Salome” (Wuppertal)
Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Hannover)
Thomas’ “Hamlet” (Zagreb)
Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” (Wiesbaden)
Schönberg’s “Pierrot lunaire” (Rotterdam)
Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges” (Koblenz)
Dvořáks’ “Rusalka” (Leipzig)
Marschner’s “Der Vampyr” (Amsterdam)
Isidora Žebeljan’s “Nahod Simon” (world premiere in Gelsenkirchen)
Peiffer’s “Vom Ende der Unschuld” (Wiesbaden)
Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” (Gelsenkirchen)
Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” (Kiel)
Offenbach’s “La Vie Parisienne” (Volksoper Wien)
J. Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” (Eisenach, Moscow, Estonian National Opera)
Lehár’s “The Merry Widow” (Linz)
Kálmán’s “Die Herzogin von Chicago” (Koblenz)
 

Photo: András Dijkema