Philipp Himmelmann

Philipp Himmelmann studied singing and music-theatre direction at Hamburg University of Music and Drama, graduating with distinction, and singing at the Guildhall School of Music in London.

Between 1992 and 1995 he was Associate Director at Luzerner Theater, and between 1996 and 1998 senior director at the Staatstheater Saarbrücken.

His most recent engagements include Pique Dame at the Aalto Theater Essen, Die tote Stadt for the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Simon Boccanegra at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, a revival of Le nozze di Figaro at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, Káťa Kabanová at the Opéra national de Lorraine, Simon Boccanegra at the Opéra de Dijon, Tosca, Don Giovanni and Boito’s Mefistofele, all at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, L’elisir d’amore at the Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, Die Fledermaus at Theater an der Wien and at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, Don Giovanni in Baden-Baden, with Thomas Hengelbrock, La bohème at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Festpielhaus Baden-Baden, Der Zwerg and Die tote Stadt for L’Opéra national de Lorraine and Nantes Angers Opera, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci in Hannover, Aida and Giulio Cesare for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Don Carlos at Berlin State Opera, Hindemith’s Cardillac and Verdi’s Macbeth at Semperoper Dresden, Manon Lescaut for Hamburgische Staatsoper, Dido and Aeneas at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia and a widely acclaimed Tosca at the Bregenz Festival.

Highlights in the season 2020/21 include Simon Boccanegra at the Opéra de Rouen as well as Věc Makropulos for Opéra de Dijon.

Conductors he has worked with include Sir Simon Rattle, Marco Armiliato, Teodor Currentzis, Thomas Hengelbrock, Michael Boder, Adam Fischer, Marcello Viotti, Fabio Luisi, Daniele Gatti, Marc Albrecht, Christian Thielemann, Ulf Schirmer, Massimo Zanetti, Reinhard Goebel, and Iván Fischer.

Philipp Himmelmann gives regular workshops at Dresden College of Design, the Hanns-Eisler Musikhochschule in Berlin and was recently appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.