Ponnelle, Jean Pierre

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Ponnelle, Jean Pierre (b Paris, 1932; d Munich, 1988). Fr. director and stage designer. First success as designer was in Boulevard Solitude (Hanover 1952) and König Hirsch (Berlin 1956). First opera prod. was Tristan und Isolde, Düsseldorf 1962. Later he prod. and dir. it at Bayreuth (1981). Worked regularly at La Scala, Cologne (Mozart cycle), Zurich (Monteverdi cycle, cond. Harnoncourt), and S. Francisco where he staged over 20 operas. CG début 1962, designs of L'heure espagnole, and was prod./designer there of Don Pasquale (1973), Aida (1984), and L'Italiana in Algeri (1988). Glyndebourne 1977, dir. and designed Falstaff. Salzburg Fest. début 1968, prod. and designer Il barbiere di Siviglia; later stagings there incl. Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, La Clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Moses und Aron. Made films of many of his prods.