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Biography

Widely recognised as the leading music-theatre director of his generation in South Africa, Matthew Wild is now increasingly sought-after as a stage director in Europe, where his productions are earning praise for their conceptual intelligence, visual bravura, musicality and “unquestionably brilliant Personenregie" (NZZ). Mr. Wild’s productions have won acclaim in major opera houses in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden, and have been seen on all the important stages of his homeland, where he is a two-time Fleur du Cap Award winner. From 2015 to 2021, he was the Artistic Director of Cape Town Opera.

Mr. Wild begins the 2022-23 season with two new productions in Cape Town: Weill and Brecht’s Die sieben Todsünden (in a new Afrikaans translation) for the Toyota US Woordfees, and Handel’s Alcina for Cape Town Opera, before he returns to the Tiroler Festspiele Erl to stage Humperdinck's Königskinder.

In the 2023/24 season, Wild makes his debut at Opera Frankfurt with a new staging of Wagner's Tannhäuser, conducted by Thomas Guggeis. In addition he will bring Jonathan Larson's rock musical “Rent” onto the stage at Theater St. Gallen and return to Tiroler Festspiele Erl, this time to stage Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa.

In 2022, his critically-lauded staging of Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess for the Theater an der Wien was nominated for four awards at the Österreichische Musiktheaterpreis, including Best Overall Production.
COVID-cancelled productions included Verdi's Macbeth for the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Nono’s Intolleranza 1960, Mendelssohn’s Elias and Wagner’s Parsifal for Konzert Theater Bern, and The Turn of the Screw for Cape Town Opera.

Mr. Wild made his German debut with an acclaimed production of Katya Kabanova for the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in 2016, which was revived in 2017-18. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Puccini's La bòheme followed at Konzert Theater Bern. His many productions for Cape Town Opera include Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte and Don Giovanni, Richard Strauss’ Salome, Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.

Equally accomplished as a director of musicals, Mr. Wild made his musical theatre debut at the Fugard Theatre in 2013 with O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, a production which smashed box office records over a two year run and won multiple awards. For the same theatre, he has since directed Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret (2015), Bernstein’s West Side Story (2015 – 2018), Styne's Funny Girl (2017) and Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots (2019). His European musical theatre debut followed in the same year with Kander and Ebb’s Chicago for the Staatstheater Braunschweig.

Before he made his opera directing debut in Sweden in 2009 with Boesmans’ Julie for NorrlandsOperan and Malmö Opera, Mr Wild studied Drama and English at the University of Cape Town, worked professionally as an actor and playwright, and developed his craft as a director of spoken theatre, ranging from new plays to Shakespearean comedy.

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Artist Website

www.matthewwild.co.za

Management

General Management

Artist Manager

Ingunn Sighvatsdóttir
Artist Manager
ingunn@orlob.net
Mobil: +49-173-2 067 821

News

Theater an der Wien´s "Porgy and Bess" nominated for Austrian Music- Theatre Prize

Matthew Wild´s production of Porgy and Bess in 2020 at Theater an der Wien was praised by critiques and audience alike.
The production was now nominated in the category Best Overall Production: Opera, at the Austrian Music-Theatre Prize and for the best set and costume design.
At a ceremony last night at Grafenegg, Katrin Lea Tag took home the Austrian Music-Theatre Prize for Best Design, for her set and costumes, for Matthew Wild's production of Porgy & Bess at the Theater an der Wien.