Christof Loy

Christof Loy was born in Essen, Germany, and studied opera directing at the Folkwang University of the Arts there. Following further study in Munich and work as an Assistant Director for Luc Bondy and Dietrich Hilsdorf among others, he made his directorial debut with his devised musical Faust-collage Gretchen: eine mädchentragödie. Engagements at various theatres followed, first in Germany, and soon after internationally. His first production in Austria was Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, in Klagenfurt in 1996. Christof Loy has worked at many international opera houses and leading festivals. He currently has especially strong associations with the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Basel, the Salzburg Festival and the ROH. In Amsterdam in 2019 he made his choreographic debut in his production of Tannhäuser and has gone on to choreograph his productions of Humperdinck’s Königskinder in Amsterdam, Bartók’s ballet The Miraculous Mandarin in Basel and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the 2023 Salzburg Festival.

In addition to his work in opera, Christof Loy also enjoys directing creative projects which focus on staged interpretations of art song, such as the Tchaikovsky evening Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt at the Frankfurt Opera, and Eine Winterreise with Anne Sofie von Otter at Theater Basel. In 2021 he directed his first feature film Springtime in Amsterdam, for which he directed, wrote the screenplay and selected the music. He is also planning various new productions in the field of zarzuela, a genre close to his heart that he is keen to bring to greater international attention. Other plans include house debuts at La Scala, Milan, in 2024, at the Paris Opéra in 2025 and at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in 2026. Christof Loy made his debut at ROH in 2002 with Ariadne auf Naxos.