Flimm saw himself “always on a journey of discovery” – and yet was at home in so many areas. He worked in opera, theater, film and television. His work has been celebrated at homes around the world. Born on July 17, 1941 to a Protestant family of doctors in Gießen, Flimm grew up in Cologne, where he studied theater studies, German and sociology.
He began his directing career in 1968 as an assistant to Fritz Kortner and Claus Peymann at the Munich Kammerspiele. As a theater manager he earned merits in Cologne from 1979 to 1985. As artistic director from 1985 to 2000, he made Hamburg’s Thalia Theater the most visited stage in Germany. From 2005 to 2008 he directed the Ruhrtriennale. He was director of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden from 2010 to 2018.
Long association with the Salzburg Festival
At the Salzburg Festival, Flimm had great success as a director with his view of Austrian drama from the outside: He brought Ferdinand Raimund’s “The Farmer as a Millionaire” (1987, 1988), Johann Nestroy’s “The Mädl aus der Vorstadt” (1989, 1990) and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s “The Difficult” (1991) on stage.
His 1993 production of Claudio Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” with Nikolaus Harnoncourt as musical director became a highly acclaimed opera production in the Grosses Festspielhaus.
As head of acting in Salzburg, Flimm initiated a new production of “Jedermann”, the “Young Directors Project” and the presentation of the best new German-language play of the season, which was chosen at the Mülheim Theater Days. He hired young directors such as Michael Thalheimer, Falk Richter, Sebastian Nübling, Elmar Goerden and Niklaus Helbling. From 2006 to 2010 he was also director of the Salzburg Festival, but prematurely terminated his contract, which actually ran until 2011.
Successful “Fidelio” production in New York
Flimm has worked at La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York and the Bayreuth Festival, among others. He received mixed reactions with his Bayreuth Ring des Nibelungen, as did his collaboration with Harnoncourt on Henry Purcell’s King Arthur in Salzburg. He was celebrated undividedly in New York with Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, which was named the best opera production of the year by the “New York Times”.
Flimm was also a director in film and television productions. Among other things, he realized two episodes of the season “Ein Herz und Eine Seele”, which was considered a TV cult in the 1970s, with Heinz Schubert as disgusting Alfred and Helga Feddersen in the role of Else. Sometimes Flimm also worked as an actor. Among other things, he stood in front of the camera in two episodes of “Tatort”. In Berlin he sometimes met Otto Rehhagel, whom Flimm knew from his Hamburg days. He admired the strong nerves and knowledge of human nature of the football coach: “He has his premiere as a coach every week.”
