Hellmuth Matiasek


Hellmuth Matiasek, also Helmuth Matiasek, is an Austrian theatre and film director.

Training

Born in Vienna, Matiasek studied directing and acting at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien as well as theatre studies, musicology, German studies and philosophy at the University of Vienna and completed his studies in 1958. with the promotion to Dr.phil..

Theatre

In 1953 Matiasek founded the avant-garde theatre Kaleidoskop in Vienna, today's Atelier-Theater, and acted as its director. From 1962, he worked as a director at the Salzburger Landestheater and in 1960 under the direction of Oscar Fritz Schuh at the Städtische Bühnen Köln. He became Intendant of the Salzburger Landestheater from 1962, then the youngest person in German-speaking theatre to achieve such a position. From 1964, Matiasek was general director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig, from 1978 he held the same position at the Wuppertaler Bühnen and from 1983 to 1996 he was director of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. He was artistic director of the in Andechs from 1997 to 2006, and simultaneously president of the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding.
Matiasek has directed as a guest director at several theatres in Germany and abroad, including the Hamburgische Staatsoper, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Theater am Kurfürstendamm and the in Berlin, the in Munich, the Münchner Kammerspiele, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Theater Bremen, the Burgtheater in Vienna, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and the Bregenzer Festspiele. His activities abroad include guest engagements in Basel, Bern, Stockholm, Zagreb and Barcelona.

Teaching activities, offices and memberships

Matiasek was director of the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule in Munich from 1972 to 1978, founding the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding. He was also involved in the Deutscher Bühnenverein, the German Center of the International Theatre Institute, is a member of the board of trustees of the Akademie Schloss Solitude and teaches as a lecturer at several universities and colleges. Matiasek is also a member of the final examination board of the Athanor Academy.

Honours

In 1963 Matiasek was awarded the Austrian Theaterdirektoren-Preis, in 1992 the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany first class and in 1993 the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art; in 1996 he was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit; in 2003 he received the and in 2008 the award of the Free State of Bavaria.

Private life

Since 1967 Matiasek has been married in second marriage with the actress Cornelia Froboess. The marriage produced a daughter, Agnes, and a son, Kaspar.