Daniela Kerck

Daniela Kerck studied stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in Erich Wonder’s master class. For her diploma project, Every Room is the Center of the World—a staged room installation—she received the Appreciation Award of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Culture.

After graduating, she worked as Erich Wonder’s assistant on several productions at the Zurich Opera House, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, the State Operas in Berlin and Munich, and La Scala in Milan, collaborating with directors Peter Mussbach and Luc Bondy.

From 2001 onwards, she designed sets for productions at the National Opera Riga, Schauspielhaus Wien, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Theater Luzern, and numerous other venues before deciding to study music theatre directing at the Karlsruhe University of Music. There, she attended master classes with Peter Konwitschny and Tatjana Gürbaca. She was awarded a scholarship for directing workshops with Monique Wagemakers at Dutch National Opera and was invited to participate in the Women Opera Makers Workshop led by Katie Mitchell at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Her directing career began in 2019 with Verdi’s Aida at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Following this production, Uwe Laufenberg invited her to join the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. In 2021, she made her spoken theatre directing debut there with Joshua Harmon’s Admissions. The following year, she directed the German premiere of Tracy Letts’ The Minutes as well as Jörg Widmann’s Babylon, which opened the International May Festival in Wiesbaden.

In 2023, she staged the world premiere of Oryx and Crake by Søren Nils Eichberg, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel. This production also marked the beginning of a close artistic collaboration with soprano Olesya Golovneva, with whom she subsequently created a new production of Dvořák’s Rusalka. The following year, Kerck directed and designed Puccini’s Turandot, creating a distinctive ending that incorporated the composer’s Requiem.

In 2025, she directed Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri at La Seine Musicale in Paris under the musical direction of Laurence Equilbey.

That summer, she was invited by Catarina Molder to direct Philippe Boesmans’ Julie at Culturgest and Samuel Barber’s Vanessa at Teatro São Luiz in Lisbon for Operafest.

Daniela Kerck teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and at the Karlsruhe University of Music.