Johannes Erath began his career as a musician after studying the violin in Vienna – working in the orchestra at the Volksoper in Vienna and Vienna Philharmonic’s Orchestra Academy, amongst others. His early inroads into the world of stage direction included working as assistant to Willy Decker, Nicolas Brieger, Christine Mielitz, Guy Joosten, Peter Konwitschny and Graham Vick at theatres throughout Europe. He worked at the Hamburg State Opera in 2002 and received a scholarship from the „Akademie Musiktheater heute/Academy for Opera Today“ in 2005. Johannes Erath received the 2008 Götz Friedrich Prize for his production of Massenet’s Cendrillon in Bern. His first new production for Oper Frankfurt was Eötvös’ Angels in America at the Bockenheimer Depot in 2008/09 - and he returned in 2011/12 for Otello in the main house. Other productions in recent seasons have included Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera in Bremerhaven, Gerhard Schedl’s Triptychon at the Neuen Oper in Vienna, Hoffmanns Erzählungen/The Tales of Hoffmann in Bern, Lulu, Don Giovanni and Elektra in Graz (Don Giovanni again, at the Braunschweig Staatstheater, in 2011/12) and Orfeo ed Euridice and Aida at Cologne Opera. His next new productions are Eugen Onegin at the Staatstheater in Mainz and La Traviata at the Hamburg State Opera.