Barrie Kosky appointed Artistic Director of Berlin's Komische Oper

Kosky, whose five-year post at Komische Oper begins in 2012, is the first Australian theatre director to head up a major European opera house. The Komische Oper, one of the three main opera houses in Berlin, was named Opera House of the Year in 2007 by German critics. It employs 420 people and has an annual budget of E34 million ($55.3million).

'To be able to create a vision for an opera house in the 21st century is an extreme and wonderful challenge, and one that after 20 years of working in the theatre, I am ready for,' Kosky said in a statement. 'I want to build on the great artistic tradition of the house, as well as developing and expanding what the definitions of music theatre are.'

Kosky, who was born in 1967, began his career at university in the 1980s. Since then his flamboyant and often eccentric interpretations have divided critics. In 1994, many in the audience at the Opera Australia production of 'The Golem' walked out. In 2006, he staged 'The Lost Echo', an eight-hour epic in Sydney. He left Australia for Europe and the Vienna Schauspielhaus in 2001, saying he was disillusioned with Australians' attitude to the arts. He made an instant mark in the Austrian capital and, more recently, has had the German critics reaching for their dictionaries for the superlatives to describe Kosky's production of 'Kiss Me Kate' in Berlin. But Australian audiences have had opportunities to see Kosky's work, having returned to these shores on many occasions. His sell-out production of Poe's 'The Tell Tale Heart' at the Malthouse in Melbourne in 2007 was based on his 2004 Vienna production. And Brisbane and Melbourne Festivals are presenting the world premiere season of Liza Lim's beguiling new opera, 'The Navigator', to be directed by Kosky.