Rolf Langenfass

Rolf Langenfass initially studied Theatre Studies in Munich before training as a costume and stage designer at Wimbledon School of Art in London.

From 1975, he lived in Vienna, where he worked for such theatres as the State Opera, the Volksoper, Theater an der Wien, the Burgtheater and the Volkstheater. Other engagements took him to such venues as the Salzburg and Bregenz festivals and the Munich Opera Festival, and several times to the Opera in Graz. In addition, he worked at the opera houses in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Göteborg, Oslo, Basel, Zurich and in New York at the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera.

Rolf Langenfass played a major role in designing the Sisi-Museum in the Hofburg in Vienna, which opened in April 2004, and in its renovation in June 2009. From 1993 to 2011, he was the Production Designer of the Mörbisch Lake Festival, and from 1997 to 2012 he was, in addition, Production Design Manager at Vienna's Theater in der Josefstadt.

He was honoured for his work with a number of prizes and awards, such as the Kainz Medal in 1979, the Grand Medal of Honour of the Austrian federal State of Burgenland in 2004 and the Silver Medal of Honour of the City of Vienna in 2005. In 2007 and 2008 he was also nominated for the Nestroy Theatre Prize in the category »Best Production Design«.

Rolf Langenfass died in Vienna in 2012 after a long illness.

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