Award – The 2014 Goethe Medal goes to...

(25 June 2014) The 2014 Goethe Medals go to the Polish theatre manager Krystyna Meissner, the late Belgian opera director Gerard Mortier and the American artist Robert Wilson. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, recognized the awardees for their intercultural involvement on the world’s theatre and opera stages, saying, “The knowledge and the vibrancy of German theatre abroad relies not only on the plays that are performed, but also on the people who produce them, who bring them to stages abroad and – not least – who courageously and creatively take up themes and literature from Germany and, with their respective points of view, contribute new, even surprising perspectives.”

The three awardees are united in their enthusiasm for opera and theatre from Germany. The Polish director and theatre manager Krystyna Meissner joined with the Goethe-Institut to bring many German productions to her international theatre festival Dialog. The career of the Belgian opera director Gerard Mortier began in Germany and he made a lasting mark as the director of major German-language festivals. The American director and artist Robert Wilson often focussed on German dramatic arts and his work at German theatres influenced the development of contemporary theatre here.

Every year the Goethe-Institut confers the official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany to honour figures who have performed outstanding service for international cultural relations. The medals will be presented at the Residential Palace in Weimar on 28 August, the birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

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