Lotte de Beer (born 11 August 1981 [1] ) is a Dutch opera director and administrator. [2]
Raised in Mheer in the Zuid-Limburg region of Limburg, de Beer studied singing and piano in her youth. [3] She subsequently developed an interest in acting, and studied acting at the Toneelschool Maastricht . She subsequently studied directing at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, from which she graduated in 2009. [4] She was a prizewinner in the Ton Lutz Awards in 2009 for grooste regietalent (greatest directing talent), [4] for her production of Hauptling Abendwind / Vent du Soir. Her mentors have included Peter Konwitschny [5] and Pierre Audi. [4]
In 2010, de Beer founded Operafront, an opera company based in Amsterdam focused on small-scale and experimental productions of opera, [4] and became its first artistic director. [5] Her work with contemporary opera has included directing the premiere productions of the new operas Waiting for Miss Monroe [6] and The New Prince, [7] both for Dutch National Opera.
Outside of The Netherlands, de Beer directed the Bavarian State Opera's first full staging of Puccini's Il Trittico, in Italian, in December 2017. [8] She has directed productions at the Bregenz Festival, the Aalto-Musiktheater (Essen), the Theater an der Wien, [3] the Münchener Biennale and Oper Leipzig. [4] In October 2020, the Vienna Volksoper announced the appointment of de Beer as its next artistic director, the first woman ever named to the post, [9] [10] effective 1 September 2022, with an initial contract of 5 years. [11] In June 2024, the Vienna Volksoper announced the extension of de Beer's contract to 2032. [12]
In 2015, de Beer was a prize winner in the Newcomer category of the International Opera Awards in London. [13]
