Lucerne Theater under new management

As a team, Steier and Gebhardt will jointly manage the opera division and thus jointly shape the content, repertoire, ensemble and directorial positions. The dance dramaturge Wanda Puvogel will take over the management of the dance division at the Lucerne Theater as part of the new team. Katja Langenbach comes to Lucerne from St. Gallen and takes over the management of the drama department.

American-born Lydia Steier studied singing at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and directing at Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked as a freelance director since 2009, including at the Komische Oper Berlin, Los Angeles Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Konzert Theater Bern, Theater Basel, Bremer Theater and Theater Weimar, at the opera houses in Geneva, Düsseldorf and Cologne. In 2018, she opened the Salzburg Festival with her interpretation of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte". She has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and at the Darmstadt Summer Course, among others.

Lars Gebhardt studied theater studies and German language and literature at the University of Leipzig and dramaturgy at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theater Leipzig. Permanent engagements as a dramaturge have taken him to the Komische Oper Berlin, the state theaters in Oldenburg and Mainz and, since 2017, to the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Wanda Puvogel studied violin at the Aachen University of Music. She was subsequently entrusted with tour planning and organization for major international dance companies at the Norddeutsche Konzertdirektion Melsine Grevesmühl, among others. In 2007, she moved to Switzerland and worked as a dramaturge and manager for the Bern Ballet, directed by Cathy Marston. Since 2014 she has worked for the professional association Danse Suisse. Nationally and internationally, siel also works as a freelance dance dramaturge and, since 2016, as a dramaturge for the Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps.