Alexander Medem, German-Peruvian of Russian origin born in Milan, studied Musicology and Theatre Studies at the University of Vienna, Stage Direction at the Drama Centre London and also completed a Master in Cultural Management at the IKM of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
From 2008 to 2010 Alexander Medem was assistant director at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Afterwards he turned more and more to music theatre as a freelance assistant director and gained extensive experience with Placido Domingo, Christof Loy, Thaddeus Strassberger, Peter Konwitschny, Jürgen Flimm and Graham Vick at the Theater an der Wien, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Hamburg State Opera, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp and the Bregenz Festival, among others.
The trained pianist and singer also appears as a narrator and actor throughout Austria, among others in staged children’s concerts. The productions “Schwups!” (e.g. in Mozarthaus Vienna and for the Jeunesse Austria, as well as “The Magic Box” at the Vienna Musikverein 2019/2020 and in the season 2020-21 at the Brucknerhaus Linz. At the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck he will perform the role of the duende in “Maria de Buenos Aires” by Astor Piazolla in 2020-21.
More and more he dedicates himself to his own productions: In 2020 he was contracted for a scenic performance of Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with the National Symphony Orchestra Tenerife at the Auditorio Nacional de Tenerife, which fell victim to the Corona crisis.
So far he was successful with the following productions:
2019 G.Verdi: “La traviata” – Slovak National Theater Košice
2018 finalist of the directing competition of the Nederlandse Reisopera for a production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugen Onegin”.
2018 Premiere “Strange Meeting” by Norbert Zehm – Opera for the commemoration year 2018 (Tyrolean Ensemble for New Music)
2018 Revival: Schwups! in Innsbruck (November)
2017 Schwups! – A music story about street music, courage and friendship – Jeunesses Musicales Austria
2017 The Danube Female (Bernd Watzka; Wiendrama)
2015 The Christmas Story (musical by N. Bertassi after Ch.Dickens, world premiere), – Teatro Mödling
2015 Undine (Albert Lortzing/Tristan Schulze), Vienna State Opera/Kinderoper
2014 Stalin’s Saint (Katharina Tiwald, UA), Theater Drachengasse, Vienna
2014 O Saci – a goblin in the jungle (Miguel Kertsman), Bregenz Festival
2013 Le Nozze di Figaro (W.A. Mozart), Perchtoldsdorf, Bruck/Leitha
2012/13 O Saci – a goblin in the jungle (Miguel Kertsman), Jungle Vienna
2012 Kinderpasticcio (A. Medem, Georg Blume, World premiere), Wiener Konzerthaus (as part of “Music to Attack” as a commissioned work for Jeunesse Wien)
2012 Woyzeck 2.0 (M. Lehmann Horn, premiere), New Opera Vienna
2011 O Saci (Miguel Kertsman), Cultural Park District, Chicago
2011 Tajikistan (A. Medem, Yael Salomonowitz, UA), Theater Drachengasse, Vienna, Audience Award 2011
2009 L’Enfant et les Sortilèges & O Saci (M. Ravel/M. Kertsman, UA) St. Paul’s Church, London
2008 The Guns of Carrar (B. Brecht), Cochrane Theatre, London
2007 Gianni Schicchi (G. Puccini), Magdalen Hall, Oxford
www.alexandermedem.com
