Born Zurich, 1966. Studied German Language and Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Zurich before continuing his studies in Berlin. In 1992, he founded the Berlin-based Theater Affekt (Theatre Affect), together with Thomas Jonigk and Lars-Ole Walburg. The theatre earned nationwide recognition with its staging of Goethe‘s music theatre piece LILA – which won the fringe ensemble Berlin’s Friedrich Luft Prize. Since 1993 he has directed shows at the Schauspiel Bonn, at Berlin‘s Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, at Theater am Neumarkt in Zurich, and at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg.
At the beginning of the 1998-99 season Stefan Bachmann switched to the role of artistic director at the Theater Basel. The theatre was selected as Theatre of the Year in his very first season on the job in a critics survey conducted by theatre magazine Theater heute. He has also been directing opera since 2001. Starting in 2005, Stefan Bachmann returned to working as a freelance director, doing shows at the Burgtheater in Vienna, at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, at Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater and at the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg. In 2008 he received Austria’s Nestroy Theatre Prize for his version of Wajdi Mouawads VERBRENNUNGEN (SCORCHED). In 2013 he received the Nestroy Prize for Jelinek’s WINTERREISE (WINTER’S JOURNEY).
Since 2013/14 Stefan has been overall head of the theatre at Schauspiel Köln. During this time invitations followed to Heidelberger Stückemarkt and Autorentheatertagen Berlin, both 2019, with his staging of SCHNEE WEISS (DIE ERFINDUNG DER ALTEN LEIER) (Snow White – The invention of the old laier).