Lars Marcel Braun is a stage director working across opera, theatre, and the visual arts. With roots in South Korea, born in Aachen and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he is based between Berlin and Switzerland. His work combines character-driven direction rooted in the Felsenstein tradition with a strong interest in the theatricality of space, often exploring the shifting boundaries between reality and illusion and the traces that people, histories, and memories leave behind. Since making his directorial debut with the Austrian premiere of Oscar Strasnoy’s Geschichte at Oper Graz in 2023, Braun has directed at the Semperoper Dresden (humanoid), Oper Köln (Tancredi), Oldenburgisches Staatstheater (Il barbiere di Siviglia), and Theater Winterthur/Landestheater Detmold (Das schlaue Füchslein), among others. His path to theatre began through music. After studying cello from an early age, Braun went on to study physics, musicology, and Slavic literature in Zurich. While working as an extra at the Opernhaus Zürich alongside his studies, he discovered theatre and began pursuing directing. He was subsequently invited by Barrie Kosky to join the Komische Oper Berlin, where he served as a staff director from 2014 to 2017. As an assistant and associate director, he has collaborated with artists including David Alden, Andreas Homoki, Eva-Maria Höckmayr, Jan-Philipp Gloger, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ted Huffman, and Nanine Linning. His work with these mentors has taken him to institutions including Det Kongelige Teater, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, the Norwegian National Opera, the Bregenzer Festspiele, Chicago Symphony Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Beyond the opera house, Braun has created immersive installations for Milkshake Festival in Amsterdam, bringing together theatre, nightlife, drag, and dance. He also works on international touring productions with Askonas Holt in both artistic and production capacities, most recently with Joyce DiDonato, with responsibilities spanning staging, lighting, video, show direction, and production management. Braun is a fellow of Akademie Musiktheater heute in the 2024–2026 selection.

@internetlars