About

Biography

Bernd Purkrabek (1982) was always fascinated by the light. He got early started as a photographer and worked in the lighting departments as lx best boy for feature films. Bernd studied  Lichtgestaltung at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München/ Germany, during his studies he worked in the lighting departement at the Residenztheater and at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He later on worked as assistent/associate lighting designer for Reinhard Traub and Asa Frankenberg in European theatre’s.

Bernd Purkrabek is working since 2011 as an international lighting designer working in dance, drama and opera.
He developed the lighting design in collaboration with the artistic team in numerous productions
(works worth mentioning include: Der Prinz von Homburg, Les Vepres Sicilliennes, Macbeth, Jenufa,
La fanciulla del West, Charodejka, Maria Stuarda and Peter Grimes all directed by Christof Loy;  Lazarus, Saul, Orlando and Jephtha directed by Claus Guth; Der Ferne Klang directed by Florentine Klepper;  Suster Bertken & Troparion both directed by Pierre Audi; The time of our singing, die Vögel, Denis and Katya, directed by Ted Huffman; Juditha Triumphans, Combattimento/ la Theory du Cygne Noir, Pierrot Lunaire,  Orfeo, Freitag aus Licht, directed and designed by Silvia Costa.

Theatres/Festivals: de Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Royal Opera House Coventgarden, Theater an der Wien, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Schauspiel Köln, Wiener Festwochen, Glyndebourne Festival, Vlaamse Opera, Grand Theatre de Geneva, Opernhaus Zürich, Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Taschenoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Theatre de Champs-Elysse, Palais Garnier, Opera de St. Etienne, Opera National de Lorraine, Opernhaus & Ballett Graz, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf, Oper Frankfurt, New National Theatre Tokyo, Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Liceu Barcelona, Theatre du Capitole Toulouse, Kungliga Operan Stockholm, Oslo Operan, Theater im Bahnhof, Tanztendenz, Akademietheater München, Opera National du Rhin Strasbourg, Royal Danish Opera House, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opera Monte Carlo, Opera de Lyon, Schwere Reiter München, Bregenzer Festspiele, Team Odratek…

Bernd  is working internationally on Opera, Drama, and Dance. His atmospheric lighting design has been featured in many theatres, stylistically ranging from the darkest drama to the most sensitive minimalism. He was involved in numerous productions which where nominated/ won the International Opera Awards (ex. Peter Grimes, Hunting Gun, Saint Francoise d’Assise). He was nominated for the Knight of Illumination Award 2017 for his work on Cosi Fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House London.