Tatjana Gürbaca (born 1973) is a German opera director of Turkish (on her father's side) and Italian/Slovenian (on her mother's side) descent. Based at the Staatstheater Mainz from 2011 to 2014, she directed operas internationally, including contemporary operas and world premieres.
Life and career Gürbaca was born in Berlin in 1973 to a Turkish father and an Italian mother of Slovene descent. Her father who had studied classical Turkish singing in Turkey had left the country in the 1960s for political reasons. Her mother belonged to the Slovenian minority in Italy. She loved music by Puccini and liked story-telling. The girl was trained in ballet, piano, cello and double bass. She attended a gymnasium with music focused on music and the arts. She played in orchestras, jazzbands, a klezmer group and a tango orchestra. Her music teacher brought her to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as an extra. She received German citizenship at age 17.
Gürbaca first studied art history, literature and theatre science at the Free University of Berlin without completing it. From 1993 she studied stage direction at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. She studied further in master courses by Ruth Berghaus and Peter Konwitschny, among others. She worked as assistant director at the Graz Opera from 1998 to 2001.
Gürbaca was winner of the competition in 2000; subsequently she directed Puccini's Turandot at the Graz Opera. From 2011 to 2014, she was the general manager of the opera department of the Staatstheater Mainz. She was named "Stage director of the year" in 2013 by the critics of the trade magazine Opernwelt. Her production of Wagner's Parsifal at the Vlaamse Opera received the International Opera Award in the category "Best opera production" in 2014. She staged productions at Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Volksoper, Oper Graz, Oper Leipzig, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Theater Bremen, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Novosibirsk Opera, Lucerne Festival, among others.
In 2024 Gürbaca directed Halévy's La Juive at the Oper Frankfurt, set in medieval times but she exposed antisemitism as actuality. The choir, prepared by Tilman Michael, played a decisive role as both Jewish congregation and Christian crowd in dynamic movement.
Works Source:
2001, Puccini: Turandot, Graz Opera 2001, Haydn: La canterina and Lo speziale, , Eisenstadt 2002, Patrick Boltshauser: Brot und Spiele, 2002, Stravinsky: Mavra, Berlin State Opera 2003, Pergolesi: Il prigioniero, Wiener Volksoper 2003, Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden 2004, Leoncavallo: Pagliacci and Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana, Theater Regensburg 2005, Mozart: Così fan tutte, 2006, Menotti: The Old Maid and the Thief, Graz Opera 2006, Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann, Graz Opera 2006, Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa, Bern Theatre 2006, Kraus: Soliman II and Mozart: Zaide, Theater Luzern 2006, Hersant: Der schwarze Mönch (world premiere), Oper Leipzig 2007, Verdi: Rigoletto, Graz Opera 2007, Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Novosibirsk Opera 2007, Così fan tutte, Prinzregententheater, Munich 2007, Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Staatstheater Mainz 2007, Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre, Theater Bremen, with Sara Hershkowitz 2008, Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Theater Augsburg 2008, Massenet: Werther, Staatstheater Mainz 2008, Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer, Deutsche Oper Berlin 2008, Massenet: Manon, Staatstheater Mainz 2009, Mazeppa, Vlaamse Opera, Antwerpen 2009, Bizet: Carmen, Oper Leipzig 2009, R. Strauss: Salome, Deutsche Oper am Rhein 2010, Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Vlaamse Opera 2011, Sciarrino: Macbeth, Staatstheater Mainz 2012, Verdi: Un ballo in maschera, Staatstheater Mainz 2013, Wagner: Parsifal, Vlaamse Opera 2013, Verdi: Macbeth, Staatstheater Mainz 2014, Verdi: Aida, Opernhaus Zürich 2015, Verdi: La traviata, Den Norske Opera Oslo 2016, Braunfels: Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna, Cologne Opera 2016, Der fliegende Holländer, Vlaamse Opera 2016, Wagner: Lohengrin, Aalto Theatre Essen 2018, Weber: Der Freischütz, Aalto Theatre 2020, Korngold: Die tote Stadt, Cologne Opera 2022, Dallapiccola: Ulisse, Oper Frankfurt 2024, Louise Bertin: Fausto, Aalto Theatre 2024, Halévy: La Juive, Oper Frankfurt
Awards , 2000 International Opera Award, 2014
References