Dresden (dpa / sn) – The Dresden Music Festival mourns the loss of its former director Michael Hampe. The opera director led the festival through the difficult years after the reunification and reorganized it, the incumbent director Jan Vogler praised his work in Dresden on Tuesday. “This achievement remains anchored in the history of our festival.” Hampe, who died last Friday at the age of 87 in his adopted country of Switzerland, directed the Dresden Music Festival from 1994 to 2000 and had a major impact on its development into a festival of international renown.
The trained theater and musicologist from Heidelberg (Baden-Württemberg) worked as an actor and director at various theaters in Germany and Switzerland, including with playwrights such as Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch and Arthur Miller. In 1975 he accepted the call to the Cologne Opera, where he was director for 20 years. As a guest director, he staged at world-renowned houses such as La Scala in Milan or the Royal Opera House in London.
