Anne do Paço

Anne do Paço graduated with a Magistra Artium in Musicology, Art History and German Language and Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin. She has been working as a dramatic advisor for music theatre, dance and concerts since 1995. Permanent engagements have taken her to the Staatstheater Mainz (1995–2009), the Deutsche Oper and the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg (2009–2020) and, since 2020, to the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper as Chief Dramaturg of the Vienna State Ballet. As Martin Schläpfer’s dramaturgical partner, she has been instrumental in shaping the artistic profile of his ensembles, for which the Ballett am Rhein has been voted »Company of the Year« four times and the Vienna State Ballet in 2020 »Highlight of the Season« by the critics’ poll of the magazine »tanz«.

At the heart of her work with dance are production dramaturgy, curating, promotion, education and outreach. One of her special interests is the interaction between music and movement. She has collaborated with choreographers such as Regina van Berkel, Stijn Celis, Martin Chaix, Nils Christe, Natalia Horecna, Young-Soon Hue, Uri Ivgi & Johan Greben, Antoine Jully, Andrey Kaydanovskiy, Terence Kohler, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, Hans van Manen, Brigitta Luisa Merki, Eric Oberdorff and Ben J. Riepe. In Martin Schläpfer’s teams she has been involved in the conception of programme focuses, including the presentation of American modernism with works by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Mark Morris and Karole Armitage.

In the field of opera, she has worked with directors such as Sebastian Baumgarten, Lotte de Beer, Peter Brenner, Nicolas Brieger, Georges Delnon, Tatjana Gürbaca, Sabine Hartmannshenn, Jens Daniel Herzog, Gregor Horres, Janusz Kica, Burkhard C. Kosminski, Thomas Krupa, Sandra Leupold, Christof Nel, Johannes Schütz, Arila Siegert and Philipp Westerbarkei.

Anne do Paço’s most important projects with contemporary composers include the Ballett am Rhein world premieres »DEEP FIELD« and »Roses of Shadow« by Adriana Hölszky, collaborations with Christof Dienz, Anno Schreier and Jörg Widmann as well as composer portraits on Georges Aperghis, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Heinz Holliger, Luigi Nono, Rolf Riehm, Wolfgang Rihm, Peter Ruzicka, Rodion Schtschedrin, Galina Ustwolskaja, Hans Zender and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, among others for the Rheingau Musik Festival, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Konzerthaus Dortmund – institutions with which she has worked closely for over 15 years.

While at the Staatstheater Mainz, she developed a highly acclaimed programme for the Philharmonic’s concert series and, in collaboration with the University of Music and the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, a baroque opera trilogy entitled »God’s Strong Daughters«, including a revival of Gluck’s forgotten dramma per musica »La Semiramide riconosciuta«.

She writes regularly for the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Mozartfest Würzburg. Her texts have also appeared in publications by the Opéra National de Paris, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Munich Philharmonic, the International Messiaen Days Görlitz-Zgorzelec, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Landesjugendorchester Rheinland-Pfalz and on the Harmonia Mundi France and Pentatone Classics labels. She was one of the authors of the encyclopaedias »Tanz« and »Oper« published by Laaber-Verlag, contributed to »Knaurs Großer Opernführer« and published on dance and opera in various academic series, including the »Brahms-Studien« of the Johannes Brahms Society Hamburg, the »Mitteilungen« of the Hans Pfitzner Society and the volume »Text.Notation.Performance« of the Elfriede Jelinek Research Centre Vienna. She was the editor of the book »Martin Schläpfer – ballettmainz«, published by Daco-Verlag in 2006.

For editing the season magazines of the Ballett am Rhein (2010–2019) in a team with the designers Nicolas Markwald and Nina Neusitzer, she was awarded the red dot award, communication design in the category »Editorial Work« four times, as well as the German Design Award in the category »Editorial Design« in 2015. Together with the photographer Gert Weigelt she curated the digital exhibition of the Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln »On the force fields between human being and body« in 2020.

As a panel moderator she took part in the Dance Congresses of the German Federal Cultural Foundation in Düsseldorf (2013) and Hanover (2016). At the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper she leads panel discussions, audience talks and introductions. Lectureships have taken Anne do Paço to the Institute of Musicology at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, among others. She has been a member of the advisory board of the Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln since 2023. In December 2023, she was appointed a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.