On Feb. 5, 2025,  German opera director and arts administrator Hans-Peter Lehmann died.

The Staatsoper Hannover, where he served as Intendant announced the news and said, “We are mourning the death of our former headmaster, our honorary member Professor Hans-Peter Lehmann, a few weeks after his 90th birthday.”

Born on Dec. 15, 1934, in Kassel, Lehmann studied music, voice, flute, and pantomime at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold from 1955 to 1957 and later studied musicology, art history, and theatre studies at the Free University of Berlin from 1957 to 1958.

Following his studies, Lehmann became assistant director of Carl Ebert and Gustav Rudolf Sellner at the new Deutsche Oper Berlin and assisted Wieland Wagner and Wolfgang Wagner at the Bayreuth Festival between 1960 and 1973.

He went on to direct productions in Bayreuth and on tours to Italy, France, Japan, and the US. In 1970, he staged Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Zimmermann’s “Die Soldaten” at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. He also directed in Mainz, Ulm, and Freiburg.

Lehmann became opera director at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from 1976 to 1980 and then at the Staatsoper Hannover from 1980 to 2001. He also directed in Essen, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Basel, Milan, Paris, Venice, and Chicago.

During his time as Opera Director of Hannover, Lehmann helmed 31 productions including works by Wagner, which was his specialty with the company. He was also a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover and a member of the Kuratorium der Bürgerstiftung Hannover, inspiring the cultural development of the city.