Manuel Schmitt was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr. He completed his directing studies in music and spoken theater at the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich with a production of Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei. He then studied philosophy at the Hochschule für Philosophie in Munich. He is a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association Munich and plays piano and cello.
His directorial work has taken him to renowned houses such as Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he staged Romeo und Julia, and Oper Frankfurt, where he directed Le Roi Arthus, Tancredi, as well as The Prodigal Son and The Burning Fiery Furnace. At Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, he directed a highly successful production of Wagner’s Lohengrin. Other milestones in his artistic career include Verdi’s Aida at Saarländisches Staatstheater, as well as Les Pêcheurs de perles, Salome, Rachmaninow’s Francesca da Rimini, and Rossini’s Otello at Musiktheater im Revier, and The Greek Passion at Theater Bielefeld and La Cenerentola at Staatstheater Augsburg. At Staatstheater Nürnberg, he directed Meisterklasse and the world premiere of Alpha – ein Männerabend. For the Opera Festival of the Bavarian State Opera, he staged the world premiere of Requiem für einen Lebenden.
He directed the German-language production of the Broadway musical Ghost – The Musical and staged Bizet’s Carmen as well as Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. His work has been nominated several times by the trade magazine “Die Deutsche Bühne” in the category “Best Music Theatre.” His production of Erwartung / Der Wald received an award in the category “Outstanding Artistic Achievement in Music Theatre” and was shortlisted for the International Opera Awards in the “Rediscovered Work” category.
His documentary film Glass Between Us was screened at international film festivals. For this work, Manuel Schmitt received the “Best Director of a Short Documentary” award from the International Filmmaker Festival of Berlin. He regularly accepts invitations for guest lectureships at the Faculty of Cultural Studies at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and at the Bavarian Theatre Academy August Everding.