Christian Schmidt

Born in Christian Coburg in 1966, Schmidt studied set and costume design at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna. Since 1992 he has worked regularly with director Claus Guth, for whom designs include Der fliegende Holländer (Bayreuth Festival), Der Ring des Nibelungen (Hamburg State Opera), Die Frau ohne Schatten (La Scala, ROH) and the Mozart-Da Ponte operas and Fidelio (Salzburg Festival). He has also worked with Christof Loy (La forza del destino, Dutch National Opera; Tosca, Finnish National Opera), Shirin Neshat (Aida, Salzburg Festival), Hans Neuenfels and Andreas Homoki. He was named Set Designer of the Year (2003) and Costume Designer of the Year (2005, 2012) by Opernwelt and nominated as Designer of the Year at the 2017 International Opera Awards.