Leonie Haupt is staging Richard Wagner’s *Der Ring des Nibelungen* for children in Bayreuth
This year, the staging of the Bayreuth Festival’s children’s opera will be led by directing student Leonie Haupt, working alongside dramaturg Sara Elisa Zimmermann, who is studying production dramaturgy at the Eisler School of Music. This continues the long-standing collaboration between the Musical Theatre Directing course and the Bayreuth Festival, as well as with the Festival’s Artistic Director, Prof. Katharina Wagner.
The premiere of Richard Wagner’s *Der Ring des Nibelungen* for children, directed by Leonie Haupt, will take place on the opening day of the Bayreuth Festival, 25 July 2025, at 11 am in the Kleines Festspielhaus. As in previous years, the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder) and a renowned cast of singers will perform under the baton of the Austrian conductor Azis Sadikovic.
Charlotte Brandhorst, a student at the Weißensee Academy of Art in Berlin, has once again been invited to design the set; her set design course at the academy regularly collaborates with the Eisler School on musical theatre productions.
At the invitation of Festival Director Prof. Katharina Wagner, initiator of the ‘Wagner for Children’ series, students from the Eisler’s directing programme in Bayreuth will have the opportunity to put their directing concepts into practice, thereby gaining invaluable experience and making valuable contacts. Katharina Wagner is an honorary professor at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin.
In addition, shortly before the Festival begins, students from the university go on a course excursion to Bayreuth, where they attend dress rehearsals and have the opportunity to talk to performers and directors.
The collaboration between the Directing programme at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and the Bayreuth Festival, in partnership with Prof. Katharina Wagner, has been in place since 2009. Experienced directing students can assist both with the staging of the children’s opera and with current productions at the Festival.
Leonie Haupt is an emerging director of musical theatre. Her artistic interest was first sparked as a child when she took part in opera productions at the German National Theatre in Weimar as a member of the children’s choir. After completing her A-levels, she undertook a voluntary cultural year (FSJ Kultur) in concert dramaturgy at the Volkstheater Rostock, where she was engaged as an assistant director in musical theatre for the following season. Since beginning her studies in musical theatre directing at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, she has developed and staged both interdisciplinary spoken theatre and musical theatre projects, as well as various excerpts from the operatic repertoire. Together with students from the university, she founded the collective ‘Zusammenhall’, which, through its political concert format, creates spaces for encounter, exchange and reflection. The collective approach, in particular, has become a fundamental part of her theatrical practice. In her productions, she develops poetic visual worlds in which fantasy and reality converge and the socio-political issues of our time are explored. Alongside her studies, she also assisted with the productions “Neue Szenen VI” and “Ab in den Ring!” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and undertook work placements with, amongst others, Nadja Loschky and Ilaria Lanzino.
Sara Elisa Zimmermann studied German Language and Literature and History at the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg and at the University of Granada. In 2023/24, she undertook a work placement in acting at the Theater Baden-Baden, after which she began her Master’s degree in Production Dramaturgy at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. As a production dramaturg, she gained experience in several university productions. In 2025, she assisted the dramaturgy team of the Hauen und Stechen collective on the play development project KLINGSAU in collaboration with the inclusive theatre Thikwa; she also took on the role of production dramaturg for the world premiere of ‘Desert of Water’ at the NEUE SZENEN as part of a university collaboration with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as for a production of the Strauss operetta ‘Die Fledermaus’ at the junge Oper Schloss Weikersheim.