Daniel Dvořák

architect, stage designer and producer

Academic Architect Daniel Dvořák (*1954) studied architecture and stage design under Professor Josef Svoboda at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and then continued in Vienna at Akademie der bildenden Künste (Professor Lois Egg). After his short-term study in the USA, he started working as a theatre, film and television stage designer. So far he has created over 200 theatre sets in the CR and abroad (e.g. Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Greece, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Argentina, Japan, Korea).

In 1988 he and Jiří Nekvasil co-founded Opera Furore, the first group in Czechoslovakia that was systematically dedicated to experimental opera. In 1990 he was appointed the stage-manager of the Chamber Opera in Prague that he reorganized into Mozart Opera. In 1998 he became the stage-manager of the State Opera in Prague and during the years of 2002 – 2006, he worked as the general manager of the National Theatre – the most prominent theatre of the Czech Republic. Since 2007, he has been the general manager of the National Theatre in Brno. In 1992 he co-founded the Mozart Summer Seasons in the Estates Theatre, for which he has been designing the stage – for example Die Zauberfloete, Le nozze di Figaro, La clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni.

He has collaborated with the National Theatre in Prague as a stage designer since 1983, creating over 30 stage designs, e.g. Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor and others. As a specialist for monumental and technologically challenging stage designs, he was asked to help with the biggest Czech musical projects: Dracula and Monte Cristo. His artistic design of the film Rebels [Rebelové] was nominated for the Czech Lion Award, and he also created the sets for the musical Rebels in the Broadway Theatre (2003). He designed the stage for the Prague version of the world musicals West Side Story (2003) and Miss Saigon (2004). This contrasts in size with his work for marionette film and theatre. In 1991 he co-founded the National Theatre of Marionettes and is the co-author of the most successful Czech theatre production after the year of 1990: the marionette version of Don Giovanni (with over 3,500 shows since 1991, as well as many abroad). At the Prague Quadrennial 1999, the Czech exhibit, in which he had participated, received the main prize – the Golden Triga. For his stage design, he received the Prize of Alfréd Radok in 1999 and the Prize of Masaryk’s Academy of Arts in 2001. In 2002 the French government awarded him the Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature. Two monographies about his work were published, and he was also in the prestigious television series GEN that documents the activity of the most prominent people of the Czech Republic.

In addition to his creative stage designing, he works as a theatre and festival producer (Mozart Open Festival, Mozart Summer Seasons in the Estates Theatre), and his studio realizes exhibition projects and stage designs of special projection and light (not only in the Czech Republic but also in Great Britain and Germany).