Sebastian Baumgarten (born 1969 in East Berlin) studied directing for music theatre at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. From 1999 to 2002, he served as chief stage director for music theatre at the Staatstheater Kassel, and from 2003 to 2005, he was chief director at the Meininger Theater. As a boundary-crosser between drama and music theatre, Baumgarten has received numerous awards. For his 2006 production of “Orest” at the Komische Oper Berlin, he was named Director of the Year by the critics of the specialist magazine Opernwelt. In 2011, he opened the 100th Bayreuth Festival with Wagner’s “Tannhäuser.” His 2013 Zurich production of Brecht’s “Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe” was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. Sebastian Baumgarten directs at major opera houses and theatres in Berlin, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Vienna, Copenhagen, Leipzig, Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden, Basel, and Stuttgart. Since 2013, he has headed the directing program at the Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich.