On August 12 2024 German Opera Director Christof Nel died at the age of 80.

Born on April 7, 1944, in Stuttgart, Nel’s parents were both musicians. He went on to study art history and theatre in Munich and began his theater career as an actor working with Peter Stein.

In 1970, he began directing. His first plays were produced at the Theater Köln and his first performance in Germany took place in 1973. He succeeded in productions for the Schauspiel Frankfurt with Peter Palitzsch and collaborated in interdisciplinary and experimental work with Heiner Goebbels and William Forsythe at the Theater am Turm in Frankfurt.

Nel also successfully directed opera at the Theater Bochum, Theater Basel, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Hannover, and the Hamburg State Opera. Among the productions he directed were Weber’s “Der Freischütz,” Verdi’s “Falstaff” and “Aida,” Smetana’s “Die verkaufte Braut,” Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” “Tristan und Isolde,” and “Parsifal,”  and Strauss’ “Salome” and “Die Frau ohne Schatten.”