Michael Simon

Michael Simon, born in 1958 in Neumünster, is a German stage designer and director. After studying stage design in Stuttgart with Jürgen Rose – the designer of choice for both John Cranko and John Neumeier – he accepted a placement as stage designer with the Frankfurt Ballet under William Forsythe in 1982 and stayed with the company until 1990. Among his most prominent designs are those created for ballets by William Forsythe (Impressing the Czar, Limb's Theorem) and Jiří Kylián (Kaguyahime, WhereaboutsUnknown, Wings of Wax, Zugvögel).

He subsequently began stage directing at the Theater am Turm in Frankfurt, where he often worked with the composer Heiner Goebbels. Some of his most famous productions include The Black Rider (Stadttheater Dortmund, 1994), L'espace dernier with music by Matthias Pintscher (Paris Opéra Bastille, 2004) and Heil, Hitler (Nationaltheater Weimar, 2006).

Besides pursuing his creative career as a freelance artist, Simon also held teaching positions as Professor of Stage Design at the HfG in Karlsruhe from 1998 to 2004 and at the ZHdK in Zurich since 2008.