Since the 2025/26 season, Michael Schulz has served as General Director of the Saarländisches Staatstheater. Alongside his responsibility for the artistic profile of the company, he continues his long-standing work as an opera director. In the 2026/27 season, he stages Wagner’s LOHENGRIN at Landestheater Linz, in a co-production with the Saarländisches Staatstheater, as well as Lortzing’s ZAR UND ZIMMERMANN at the Aalto-Theater Essen.

During his first season in Saarbrücken, Schulz directed Poulenc’s DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES and created the stage direction for Monty Python’s NOT THE MESSIAH, which also returns to the repertoire in the 2026/27 season.

From 2008 to 2025, Michael Schulz was General Director of Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, where he played a defining role in shaping the artistic profile of the company through a wide range of distinctive productions.

He has also established an international reputation with productions of major works from the operatic repertoire. At the Salzburg Easter Festival, he staged Wagner’s PARSIFAL under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann; the production was subsequently presented in Beijing as the first Chinese staging of the work at the Poly Theatre. At the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, he directed the complete RING DES NIBELUNGEN, while in Budapest he staged Wagner’s DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG.

Further notable productions include Strauss’ ELEKTRA at Landestheater Linz, LA CLEMENZA DI TITO at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, DER ROSENKAVALIER at Oper Leipzig, SALOME at the Semperoper Dresden and Giordano’s ANDREA CHÉNIER at Staatstheater Kassel, as well as world premieres including Gurlitt’s NANA in Weimar. His productions of PARSIFAL and the Weimar RING DES NIBELUNGEN were released on DVD and received several awards.

As a guest director, Michael Schulz has worked at houses including Komische Oper Berlin, Aalto-Theater Essen, the state theatres in Darmstadt, Kassel, Hannover and Nuremberg, as well as the theatres in Bremen, Bielefeld, Erfurt, Osnabrück, Koblenz and Lübeck. Festivals such as the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Wagner Festival in Budapest, Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, European Weeks Passau, Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and the International Opera Festival Miskolc have also formed part of his artistic career.

In 1998, Michael Schulz became the first director to receive the newly established Götz Friedrich Foundation Award for Young Directors for his production of Poulenc’s DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES.

He began his theatre career as an assistant director and stage director at Staatstheater Kassel. From 1997 to 2001, he served as Senior Stage Director at the Aalto-Theater Essen, and from 2002 to 2008 as Opera Director at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar. Michael Schulz studied opera directing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

2026-08-31