After his first film productions at a young age, obtaining his Magister Artium at the University of Tübingen on the historical justification of tragedy in Hölderlin, and scholarships in Naples, he became assistant to director Juri Ljubimow at the Stuttgart Staatsoper and the Karlsruhe Staatstheater. He was also production manager for opera at the Landeskunstwochen Tübingen and assistant to director and mime Helfrid Foron, a collaborator of Samuel Beckett. He has written numerous publications on theatre, opera and composers, including for the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Die Deutsche Bühne, the Stuttgarter Zeitung, the FAZ Group, etc.

Schönleber has been active as a director in the field of prose and musical theatre since 1987. Since 1989 he has staged Beckett, Christa Wolf, Schiller at various German theatres. In the field of opera he has directed contemporary composers such as Zimmermann, Henze and several productions of Rossini, Mayr, Meyerbeer, Mercadante for ROSSINI IN WILDBAD, many of them modern premieres.

In 2007-2009, he fundamentally rethought his approach to directing, partly taking over responsibility for the stage designs and subsequently he celebrated success with IL SIGNOR BRUSCHINO, LA CENERENTOLA, IL TURCO IN ITALIA, GUILLAUME TELL, IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, MAOMETTO SECONDO, L'OCCASIONE FA IL LADRO, MOISE, TANCREDI (Rossini) and I BRIGANTI (Mercadante) as well as with several operas by García and Balducci. He has staged in Barcelona (Teatre de Sarrià) and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, at the State Opera Russe (Bulgaria) and at the Slowacki Theatre in Krakow. In Tübingen, he conceived and staged IL CACCIATORE DELUSO - Der frustrierte Jäger by Jommelli in 2017 as a modern première to mark the 250th anniversary of the first performance.

The DVD of GUILLAUME TELL, which he edited himself together with Philippe Ohl, was awarded the EDITOR'S CHOICE in OPERA NEWS (New York) in 2015. The DVD of L'INGANNO FELICE was awarded CRITIC'S CHOICE in 2017. L'EQUIVOCO STRAVAGANTE released 2021, was nominated for the ICMA award and was DVD proposal of the month in L'Opéra (Paris). L'OCCASIONE FA IL LADRO was recently published by NAXOS as well as DER FRUSTRIERTE JÄGER. The release of TANCREDI is in preparation.

Contact
E-Mail: intendant@rossini-in-wildbad.de

Jochen Schönleber, general manager and artistic director