Luc Bondy (17 July 1948 – 28 November 2015) was a Swiss theatre and film director.

Luc Bondy
2006 portrait by Oliver Mark
Born(1948-07-17)17 July 1948
Zurich, Switzerland
Died28 November 2015(2015-11-28) (aged 67)
Zurich[1][2][3]
NationalitySwiss
Occupation(s)Theatre and film director, screenwriter
Years active1970–2015
Bondy in 2013

Life and career

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Charlotte Salomon at the Salzburg Festival 2014

Trained in Paris with the theatre teacher Jacques Lecoq, he received a job in 1969 as an assistant at the Hamburg Thalia Theatre.[4] In a surprise, he took over in 1985 after the resignation of Peter Stein at the Schaubühne in Berlin. He also worked as a producer of both plays and operas at the Salzburg Festival, and in 1985 as a director at the Vienna Festival.

He was the director of the most recent version of Tosca, by Puccini, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Both the opera, as well as the director, were greeted by loud boos on opening night, 21 September 2009.[5] The reception was generally negative.[6][7][8] James Levine, the music director at the Metropolitan Opera likened the production to a 'Hitchcock movie' and the cultural critic for the New York Times, Charles McGrath, felt that the new production was a part of Gelb's mission to transform the Met by emphasizing theatricality.[9]

In an interview after the premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie's opera Charlotte Salomon, Bondy was asked whether his being Jewish had anything to do with his having directed the production. "So I said to her this is a production about a Jewish artist...the subject is the story of Charlotte Salomon" said Bondy, who then walked out on the interviewer.[10]

He died on 28 November 2015 in Zurich.[1][2][3]

Direction

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Source:[11]

Stage productions

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Opera productions

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Honors

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References

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  1. ^ a b Stadelmaier, Gerhard (29 November 2015). "Zum Tod von Luc Bondy: Der Liebesspieler". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b Kedves, Alexandra (29 November 2015). "Der Menschensüchtige". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b Heilig, Barbara Villiger (28 November 2015). "Er fing das Leben auf der Bühne ein". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. ^ Riding, Alan (26 December 1994). "The Drama Before Language Intervenes". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  5. ^ Wakin, Daniel (22 September 2009). "For Opening Night at the Metropolitan, a New Sound: Booing". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  6. ^ York, Ed Pilkington in New (22 September 2009). "Met's new production of Tosca greeted by a cacophony of boos". the Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. ^ spécial, Renaud Machart-New York Envoyé. "L'exemplaire". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Opera review: New 'Tosca' opens Metropolitan Opera season". LA Times Blogs – Culture Monster. 22 September 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  9. ^ McGrath, Charles (27 September 2009). "It's a New Met. Get Over It". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  10. ^ Michael Roddy, "Holocaust victim, artist Charlotte Salomon's life premieres as opera, Reuters (UK edition), July 29, 2014.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Bondy". Akademie der Künste, Berlin (in German). Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  12. ^ Billington, Michael (4 December 2015). "Luc Bondy obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
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