© Enrique Moreno Esquibe
Calixto Bieito, born in Miranda de Ebro (Burgos), lives in Basel. He studied literature and art history at the University of Barcelona, directing at the Disputació and performance at the Escuela de Arte Dramático in Tarragona. His artistic profile is rooted in his early work. He directed the Teatre Romea in Barcelona for ten years, organised the Festival Internacional de las Artes de Castilla y León in Salamanca and founded the Barcelona Internacional Teatre (bit), a forum for artists and theatre projects.
Shakespeare's MACBETH in Salzburg and HAMLET in Edinburgh were among his early groundbreaking works, which quickly established him as one of the most prominent directors in Europe. An early production of CARMEN for the Perelada Festival marked the beginning of his career in musical theatre, which reached its first high points with Mozart's DON GIOVANNI in Hanover and DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL at the Komische Oper Berlin. Calixto Bieito has staged many works from the opera canon, including at the Zurich Opera House, where his stylistic range extended from Monteverdi's POPPEA to Zimmermann's DIE SOLDATEN. Rudi Stephan's DIE ERSTEN MENSCHEN in Amsterdam, Prokofiev's WAR AND PEACE in Geneva and TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at the Vienna State Opera were further highlights.
Calixto Bieito's work as a theatre director has focused on several German-speaking theatres, including Basel, Stuttgart, Mannheim and the Residenztheater in Munich. At the end of last season, he staged Shakespeare's RICHARD III at the Teatro Nacional in Buenos Aires. Since 2017, Calixto Bieito has also been the artistic director of the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao. He was awarded the European Culture Prize by the Basel-based cultural foundation Pro Europa in 2009 and has received awards in Ireland, Great Britain, Germany and Italy. He has also received several awards in Spain, including honorary membership of the Academia de las Artes escénicas de España in 2021.
