Johannes Müller has been working as a director and dramaturge in the field of experimental music theater since 2009. He studied directing at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and already during his studies staged productions for the Komische Oper Berlin, the Volksbühne Berlin, Ballhaus Ost, and the experimental music theater group Oper Dynamo West, of which he was a founding member. Together with Philine Rinnert, he developed music theater projects for independent theaters such as Sophiensaele Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Brut Wien, Rampe Stuttgart, but also for municipal and state theaters such as the Bavarian State Opera or the Staatsoper Stuttgart. He has been invited to national and international festivals. He also closely collaborates with director Cordula Däuper; together, they have realized biographical music theather evenings about Cole Porter, Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, and others. For some time, Johannes Müller has also worked in the field of (theater) film and radio play.

Shouldn't politically effective art be art that appeals to many people? This is the question Johannes Müller explores at the Thomas Mann House. By looking at the production forms of the U.S. entertainment industry, he examines the relationship between art and popular culture in order to deduce how this relationship could be rethought in Germany.


Selected Awards

2022 Research grant from the Fonds Darstellende Künste (for Sisters)
2020 Reload grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation (for Park and Bark)
2019 Research grant from the Berlin Senate (for Black Wagner)
2019 Selection of the production White Limozeen for the Impulse theater festival
2016 Jury Prize of the Favoriten Festival (for Reading Salomé)
2016 Beldocs International Competition Award (for the film Das große Glück)


Selected Publications

2021–24 | Etablissement, discussion series, online
2023 | Im weißen Rössl am Central Park, radioplay, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
2022 | The Want-Song, Theater Thikwa, Berlin
2020–22 | Sing out!, Staatsoper Stuttgart/Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
2020 | Nothing will be archived oder Die Herrin der Welt, Sophiensaele Berlin
2019 | Casting Clara, Neuköllner Oper, Berlin