Born in Germany, Hans Toelstede studied electronics and stage technology before working at the Hamburg State Opera, the Wiesbaden State Theatre, and the Bayreuth Festival. From 1980 to 1995 and again from 2006 to 2010, he served as Head of Lighting Design at the Cologne Opera. He has collaborated with stage directors such as Willy Decker, Harry Kupfer, Peter Konwitschny, Oliver Tambosi, Andreas Homoki, Ian Judge, Kurt Horres, Karoline Gruber, Karin Beier, Katharina Thalbach, David Pountney, Patrick Kinmonth, and Michael Hampe.As a freelance lighting designer, he has worked at the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Flemish Opera, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, the Warsaw Opera, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Salzburg Festival.His lighting designs have also been seen at the Los Angeles Music Center, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Colón in Bogotá, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.At the Paris Opera: The Turn of the Screw (1986); La Gazza Ladra (1988); Eugene Onegin (1995); La Clemenza di Tito (1997); Lulu (1998); The Flying Dutchman (2000); Akhmatova (2011).

Hans ToelstedeLighting designer