Mit Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben

The memoirs of Jürgen Flimm - a theatre legend who made cultural historyIt began very early: even as a young boy, Jürgen Flimm sat next to his father, a theatre doctor, in the audience and was enthralled by what was happening on stage. He gained his first practical experience as a student at the Kölner Studiobühne and began his incomparable theatre career as an assistant director at the Münchner Kammerspiele in 1968. Over the following five decades, he has written cultural history both nationally and internationally, with unforgettable directorial works, as artistic director at the Cologne Schauspielhaus and the Hamburg Thalia Theatre, as director of the Ruhrtriennale and the Salzburg Festival and as artistic director of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden. He staged a memorable "Ring" in Bayreuth and his often spectacular opera productions have taken him to the Met in New York, Milan, London, St Petersburg and Chicago.Almost every theatre lover remembers one or more of Jürgen Flimm's groundbreaking productions, such as "Käthchen von Heilbronn" in Cologne in 1979, "Romeo and Juliet" at the Vienna State Opera in 2001 or Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" in Zurich in 1999. At the same time, he was involved in cultural politics, appeared as an actor himself, worked for television and never lost his dazzling, Rhenish humour, which makes his memoirs a highly enjoyable read - a book full of ups and downs, bravos and boos, great successes and defeats. A document of contemporary and cultural history, and a reminder that life without art is no life at all.