scenic design
Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including Play (theatre), plays and Musical theatre, musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, wher ...
er and academic teacher who created sets for international stages and festivals including the
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
.
Life and career
Born in
Jennersdorf
Jennersdorf (; , ) is a town in Burgenland, Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the ...
,
Burgenland
Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...
on 30 March 1944, Wonder studied at the Kunstschule Graz from 1960 to 1964, where he attended the painting class of Otto Brunner. He studied stage design at the
Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
A German Akademie is a school or college, trade school or another educational institution. The word Akademie (unlike the words Gymnasium or Universität) is not protected by law, and any school or college may choose to call itself Akademie. A Som ...
with Lois Egg from 1965 to 1968. He first worked as an assistant stage designer at the Theater Bremen from 1968 to 1971, where was chief designer, and then at the
Schauspiel Frankfurt
The Schauspiel Frankfurt is the municipal theatre company for plays in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is part of Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt.
History
In the late 1770s the theatre principal Abel Seyler was based in Frankfurt, and established ...
to 1978.
Wonder then worked as freelance designer with directors including
Ruth Berghaus
Ruth Berghaus (2 July 1927 – 25 January 1996) was a German choreographer, opera and theatre director, and artistic director.
Life and career
Berghaus was born in Dresden and studied Expressionist dance and Dance direction with Gret Palucca th ...
,
Luc Bondy
Luc Bondy (17 July 1948 – 28 November 2015) was a Swiss theatre and film director.
Life and career
upright=1.3, '' Charlotte Salomon'' at the Salzburg Festival 2014
Trained in Paris with the theatre teacher Jacques Lecoq, he received a jo ...
, ,
Paulus Manker
Paulus Manker (born 25 January 1958) is an Austrian film director and actor, as well as an author and screenplay writer.
Manker is considered one of the most maverick German-speaking actors, and polarizes public opinion like scarcely no other. H ...
,
Christof Nel
Christof Nel (7 April 1944 – 6 August 2024) was a German theatre and opera director. He began his career as an actor but moved on to direct opera productions at major opera houses. Plays that he directed were invited to the Berliner Theatertre ...
,
Hans Neuenfels
Hans Neuenfels (; 31 May 1941 – 6 February 2022) was a German writer, poet, film producer, librettist, theatre director, opera director and theatre manager. As a director, he first focused on drama, staged at prominent houses such as the Vien ...
, ,
Johannes Schaaf
Johannes Schaaf (7 April 1933 – 1 November 2019) was a German film, theatre and opera director and actor. Several of his films have been internationally recognized. His focus shifted to opera in the 1980s and he worked with many of the leading i ...
and .
He created the stage design for the 1994 production of the
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
of ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...
'', directed by
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postd ...
. In 2000 he designed there the sets for the Millenium Ring of ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...
'', directed by
Jürgen Flimm
Jürgen Flimm (; 17 July 1941 – 4 February 2023) was a German theatre and opera director, theatre manager, and academic teacher. Flimm was first active in drama, and made the Thalia Theater in Hamburg one of the most successful German theatr ...
.
Erich Wonder also participated in exhibitions and performances, such as ''Inszenierte Räume'' at the in 1978 with , ''Rosebud'' at the
Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
The is a theatre building and company in Düsseldorf. The present building with two major auditoria was designed by the architect and built between 1965 and 1969. It opened in 1970.
History
The theatre dates back to 1747 when during the ...
in 1979 with , and ''Das Auge des Taifun'' on the
Wiener Ringstraße
The Ringstrasse or Ringstraße (pronounced �ɪŋˌʃtʁaːsə ⓘ, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic city centre, the Innere Stadt, of Vienna, Austria. The road is bu ...
1992 with Müller and the band
Einstürzende Neubauten
(, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...
, filmed by
Paulus Manker
Paulus Manker (born 25 January 1958) is an Austrian film director and actor, as well as an author and screenplay writer.
Manker is considered one of the most maverick German-speaking actors, and polarizes public opinion like scarcely no other. H ...
. In 1987, he presented with
Heiner Goebbels
Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, Conductor (music), conductor and professor at University of Giessen, Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 201 ...
the project ''Maelstromsüdpol'' at the
documenta 8
documenta 8 was the eighth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 12 June and 20 September 1987 in Kassel, West Germany. The artistic directors were Manfred Schneckenburger and Edward F. Fry.
P ...
in Kassel.
Wonder was professor an der Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien as leader of the masterclass for stage design from 1978. He was professor at the
Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
A German Akademie is a school or college, trade school or another educational institution. The word Akademie (unlike the words Gymnasium or Universität) is not protected by law, and any school or college may choose to call itself Akademie. A Som ...
from 1985 to 2012, where he headed the Department of Scenography at the Institute of Art and Architecture. Among his students are , , and .
In 2006, Wonder designed the trophy of the
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...