Martin Gebhardt studied in Hamburg. After graduating, he worked as a lighting designer and lighting director at John Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet. From 2002 onwards, he collaborated with Heinz Spoerli and the Zurich Ballet. Touring with the ballet productions of both companies took him to renowned theatres in Europe, Asia and America.At Zurich Opera House, he created the lighting designs for productions by Jürgen Flimm, Grischa Asagaroff, Matthias Hartmann, David Pountney, Moshe Leiser, Damiano Michieletto, Achim Freyer and Jan Phillip Gloger. He has worked with Christoph Marthaler and Anna Viebrock on Handel's Sale, Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in Zurich, as well as on Lulu at the Hamburg State Opera.In 2020, he created the lighting for Les Huguenots at the Geneva Opera, directed by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito. At the Salzburg Festival, he created the lighting for La Bohème and a new version of Spoerli's La Mort et la jeune fille. Martin Gebhardt has been head of lighting at Zurich Opera since the 2012/2013 season. He has worked closely with choreographer Christian Spuck (notably on Winterreise, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Messa da Requiem, Anna Karenina, The Little Match Girl, Sleeping Beauty, Monteverdi and Orlando).More recently, he has also been lighting designer for choreographers Edward Clug, Alexei Ratmansky, Marco Goecke, Douglas Lee, Marcos Morau, Juliano Nunes, Craig Davidson, Goyo Montero, Heinz Spörli, Kim Brandstrup, Meryl Tankard, Christian Spuck and Cathy Marston.