Isabel Ostermann

Stage Director

– General Management –

Isabel Ostermann studied opera directing at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and was a trainee and assistant director for Christoph Marthaler, Ruth Berghaus, Harry Kupfer, Andreas Homoki, Peter Konwitschny, Christoph Schlingensief and Achim Freyer, among others at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals.
From 2006 to 2017, she was at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, where she worked in the Schiller Theatre as personal assistant to the artistic director Jürgen Flimm and as artistic production manager of the Workshop for Contemporary Music. During this time, she staged works by Friedrich Goldmann, Oscar Strasnoy, Leoš Janáček, Francis Poulenc, John Cage and Lucia Ronchetti („Rivale“ commissioned for the reopening of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden).
From 2017 to 2024, Isabel Ostermann was opera director and deputy artistic director at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, where she realised John Cage’s „Europeras 1 & 2“, the chamber operas „Dichterliebe recomposed“ by C. Jost, „Rivale“ and „La Voix humaine / Tagebuch eines Verschollenen“, as well as Tchaikovsky’s „Eugene Onegin“, S. Corbett’s „Das große Heft“, T. Hosokawa’s „Hanjo“ (as a digital film project), Wagner’s „The Flying Dutchman“, „Das Rheingold“, „Die Götterdämmerung“ (across all genres) and Strauss‘ „Salome“.
At the Halle Opera, she recently staged Verdi’s „Un Ballo In Maschera“, and at the Staatstheater Darmstadt Tchaikovsky’s „Eugene Onegin“, for the reopening of the Potsdam Palace Theatre Britten’s „The Rape of Lucretia“, Jost’s „Dichterliebe“ at the Theatre Academy in Munich and the world premiere of Ronchetti’s „Searching for Zenobia“ at the opening of the Munich Biennale 2024. This will be followed by Puccini’s „Madama Butterfly“ at the Landestheater Linz and Tchaikovsky’s „Jolanta“ at the Hagen Theatre.
She received the scholarship (AMH) and the Deutsche Bank sponsorship award, the Münchner Merkur as young artist of the year 2002 and was honoured in 2017 by the Deutsche stage for her first Braunschweig programme (Köpfe der Saison).
She collaborates regularly as a director and lecturer with the Berlin Opera Group, the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival, the Gut Immling Music Festival, the Bavarian Theatre Academy August Everding and the International Opera Studio of the State Opera Unter den Linden.
Isabel Ostermann is a member of the jury at numerous renowned singing and and directing competitions and a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts.