Born in Stuttgart, Ulrich Peters studied literature, drama, musicology, and business administration at the University of Munich. He earned his doctoral degree with a thesis on 17th and early 18th century opera for the contemporary stage. Mr. Peters has mentored with many of opera’s most prominent stage directors including Jean Pierre Ponnelle, August Everding, Ken Russel, Maurice Bejart, Luc Bondy, Karl Ernst Hermann, Alfred Kirchner, and Claus Peymann.

Since his first stage production in 1982, Mr. Peters has directed over a hundred operas, operettas, musicals, and theater productions throughout Europe. He has earned significant recognition from critics, including the two-time nomination for Opera Welt magazine’s “Opera House of the Year” award during his tenure as senior director of production at Theater Kaiserslauten from 1991-1997, and “Stage Director of the Year” in 1997 for his interpretation of Händel’s Xerxes at the Halle Händel Festival.

Now Intendant at Theater Münster, Ulrich Peters’ upcoming engagements for 2012/13 include directing performances of Die Zauberflöte at Karlsruhe, Im weissen Roessl in Münster, Falstaff in München, and a new production of L’Elisir d’Amore in Hof. As Intendant at the Gärtnerplatz Theater in Munich from 2007-2012, he directed notably acclaimed presentations of Janacek’s The Makrolpolis Case, Suppé’s Boccaccio, and Auber’s Fra Diavolo, Mr. Peters worked previously in Stuttgart, Freiburg, Strasbourg, Munich, Geneva, Brussels, Bremen, Würzburg, Bonn, Heidelberg, Osnabrück, Dortmund, Kaiserslautern, St. Gallen, Stockholm, Karlsruhe, Linz, Halle (Händelfestspiele), Magdeburg, Braunschweig, and Salzburg.

As Intendant of Ausburg Theater, Ulrich Peters mounted new productions of Salieri’s Axur, Re d’Ormus, Max Brand’s Maschinist Hopkins, Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, Verdi’s Falstaff, Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate, and Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. As Senior Director of the Händel Festival at the State Theater of Karlsruhe, he directed distinctly creative and imaginative interpretations of Partenope, Lucio Silla, Berenice, Rodelinda, Serse, and Reinhard Keiser’s Die Edelmütige Octavia. As the first principal producer at Bremen Opera House, Mr. Peters directed Händel’s Almira and Saul, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Loewe’s My Fair Lady. And as Senior Director at Pfaltztheater Kaiserlautern, he oversaw productions that ranged from Antonio Bibalo’s Gespenster to Zemlinsky’s Der Kreidekreis and Wagner’s Tannhäuser to Britten’s Rape of Lucretia.