Thomas Fiedler

Thomas Fiedler grew up in Bonn and Brussels. He studied musical theatre direction in Hamburg and has been living in Berlin and Umbria for 20 years. He stages his cross-genre productions, which blend spoken theatre and musical theatre, at numerous opera houses and theatres both in Germany and abroad.

In 2008, together with the Hamburg-based composer Jan Dvořák, he founded the cross-genre theatre group Kommando Himmelfahrt. Since 2013, the dramaturg and production manager Julia Warnemünde has also been part of the group. In productions that are mostly large-scale, they combine musical theatre, performance art, video art and concert elements to create philosophical theatrical compositions. Avant-garde montage techniques converge with revue and song; band music meets classical choral and orchestral elements; and lecture-performance encounters cinematic realism. Kommando Himmelfahrt explores utopias and myths, examining their potential and projecting them back onto the present. The group works both for independent production venues and at drama theatres and opera houses.

Fiedler was a member of the artistic management team at Theater Aachen and took over as interim chief director and deputy artistic director at the Junges Staatstheater Berlin. At the same time, he works regularly as a curator at the Mannheimer Sommer festival and, from the 26/27 season onwards, will serve as chief dramaturg at the Staatstheater Cottbus. Several of his productions have won awards and been invited to festivals. His interest in new forms of music has led him to collaborate regularly with many contemporary music ensembles.