Tobias Kratzer is set to be the next Intendant at the Hamburg Staatsoper.

He will take over the position as of summer 2025, replacing Georges Delnon, who has held the position since 2015.

“With Tobias Kratzer we can win one of the currently most exciting directors for the directorship of the Hamburg State Opera,” said Hamburg’s Senator for Culture Carsten Brosda (SPD) during the official announcement on Friday. “He convinced the selection committee with a clear and ambitious vision for the future of the opera.”

This announcement represents the first time Kratzer will lead an opera house. Otherwise, he renowned as a major opera director who has led productions at numerous companies including the Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater Bremen, Schwetzingen Festival, Theater Basel, Wermland Opera, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, and Opera Frankfurt, among others. Opernwelt named his “Director of the Year” in 2020.

Some recent productions include “Moïse et Pharon” at the Festival Aix-en-Provence, “Fidelio” at the Royal Opera House, and Wagner’s “Tannhaüser” at the Bayreuth Festival in 2019.

“The director Tobias Kratzer’s presentation was more than just an updating in order to provide relevance to the present day, for it also managed to provide the work with a pleasing dynamic momentum which carried the work forward,” said OperaWire’s review of Kratzer’s “Moïse et Pharon” this past summer. “Rarely, did the work appear to stop for the express purpose of an aria or a set ensemble, rather Kratzer ensured that there was always something happening.