Festival in general
Awards
Caroline Neuber-Preis der Stadt Leipzig
(Caroline Neuber-prize of the City of Leipzig)
In 1998, the city of Leipzig founded the Caroline Neuber Prize, which was awarded biennially to female theatre makers. It recognises outstanding artistic achievements of a standard-setting nature. The prize commemorates the German theatre reformer, actress and theatre principal Friederike Caroline Neuber (1697-1760). She worked in Leipzig for many years and was granted the Saxon privilege of running a permanent theatre in 1727. This was located on the »Großer Blumberg« on Brühl, today on Richard-Wagner-Platz. Ann-Elisabeth Wolff received the prize in 2008 and was the first winner to live and work in Leipzig.
In 2020, the prize was reorganised and renamed the »International Caroline Neuber Scholarship of the City of Leipzig«. (see also the event in the 2020 supporting programme)
Information from the Department of Culture of the City of Leipzig
Festival director Ann-Elisabeth Wolff receives the Caroline Neuber-prize of the City of Leipzig 2008
Ann-Elisabeth Wolff receives the Caroline Neuber Prize 2008, endowed with 6,000 euros.
With its decision, the jury honoured a theatre maker who, since the founding of the international theatre festival euro-scene Leipzig in 1991, has worked tirelessly to establish and maintain the festival.
The award ceremony will take place on the occasion of Caroline Neuber's birthday on 9 March 2008 during a matinee at Schauspiel Leipzig.
After the early death of the founding director of euro-scene, Matthias Renner, with whom Ann-Elisabeth Wolff had already conceived the first programme, she was prepared without hesitation to take over the management and thus the full responsibility for this festival.
Not only has she managed to secure the necessary funding time and again and thus create impressive continuity, she has also given euro-scene Leipzig, the first important festival for contemporary European theatre in a new federal state, its own profile with well thought-out concepts. The programmes are not, as is so often the case, a mixture of the currently fashionable »events« of current theatre offerings travelling around the world, but are carefully selected for a specific audience in Leipzig and follow recognisable lines and themes.
The great popularity among visitors and their critical openness towards often challenging and radical presentations of contemporary theatre and dance are the result of this careful development workuarbeit.
Driven by a constantly alert curiosity, tirelessly travelling and searching for new, convincing forms of artistic expression, Ann-Elisabeth Wolff has created a festival with euro-scene that is increasingly attracting international attention and an interested audience to Leipzig.
She is therefore a worthy successor to Caroline Neuber.
With this prize, which has been awarded every two years since 1998, the city honours female theatre professionals from German-speaking countries who have set standards with their outstanding artistic achievements.
The prize commemorates the German actress and theatre principal Friederike Caroline Neuber (1697 - 1760). The »Neuberin«, as she was also known, worked closely with Gottsched, received the Saxon privilege to run a permanent theatre in 1727 and banned the Hanswurst from the stage in Leipzig in 1737 in an allegorical prelude.
Previous prizewinners include actress Jutta Hoffmann (1998), actress Inge Keller (2000), director Konstanze Lauterbach (2002), Nele Hertling (2004), long-time artistic director of the Hebbel Theatre in Berlin, and director Karin Henkel (2006).
About Ann-Elisabeth Wolff
Ann-Elisabeth Wolff was born in Halle/Saale in 1953 and grew up in Leipzig. Her parents were the musicologist Prof Dr Hellmuth Christian Wolff and the opera singer Liselotte Wolff. She studied musicology at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig from 1971-1975 and graduated with a degree. Alongside her studies, she trained in piano and singing at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Music in Leipzig. At the »Hans Otto« Theatre Academy in Leipzig, she studied theatre studies as a guest student. An assistant director position at the Leipzig Opera under Joachim Herz gave her first insights into artistic practice.
Ann-Elisabeth Wolff worked as an editor for stage works and vocal music at the music publisher Edition Peters Leipzig from 1975 until its closure in 1990. At the same time, she worked as a journalist for numerous newspapers and magazines on music theatre and dance from 1985.
In 1991, she founded the euro-scene Leipzig theatre and dance festival with Matthias Renner and was his deputy. After Renner's unexpected death in 1993, she took over as director and continues to run the festival to this day. euro-scene Leipzig is the only festival for contemporary theatre and innovative dance in the new federal states and one of the most important of its kind in Europe. In 2002, she brought the »Dance Platform Germany« to Leipzig and was its project manager.
As festival director, Ann-Elisabeth Wolff is a member of the Informal European Theatre Meeting (IETM) based in Brussels and the International Theatre Institute (ITI), Federal Republic of Germany section in Berlin. She was elected to the board of the ITI in 2006.
Together with Michael Freundt, she published the book »Neugier und Leidenschaft« - Festivalschrift on the occasion of the 10th euro-scene Leipzig.
Leipzig, 01.02.2008
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Programme of the award ceremony on 09.03.2008 at the Schauspielhaus Leipzig |
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The guest performance by Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion, London, with the performance »Both sitting duet« was already shown once at euro-scene Leipzig 2007. (PDF Evening programme 2007) |
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The laudation was held by Michael Freund, theatre scholar and former employee of euro-scene Leipzig. (PDF from: Festival publication 30 years euro-scene Leipzig) |
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Burkhard Jung, Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Leipzig, verkündete nach der Festivaleröffnung 2007 die Preisübergabe an Ann-Elisabeth Wolff. Foto: Rolf Arnold, Leipzig, 2007 |
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Georg Girardet, Beigeordneter für Kultur der Stadt Leipzig / Michael Freundt, Co-Direktor Internationales Theaterinstitut (ITI), Berlin / Ann-Elisabeth Wolff / Wolfgang Engel, Intendant Schauspiel Leipzig / Wolfgang Tiefensee, Bundesminister für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung und ehemaliger Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Leipzig (von links nach rechts). Foto: Rolf Arnold, Leipzig, 2008 |
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Jonathan Burrows & Mattheo Fargion, London »Both sitting duet« innerhalb der Matinée anlässlich der Preisverleihung. Foto: Rolf Arnold, Leipzig, 2008 |
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Ann-Elisabeth Wolff sagt »Danke!«. Foto: Rolf Arnold, Leipzig, 2008 |
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Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République française
(Order of Arts and Literature of the French Republic)
The »Ordre des Arts et des Lettres« (»Order of Arts and Literature«) is a French order that has been founded and administered by the French Ministry of Culture since 1957. The order is awarded to »persons who have distinguished themselves through their work in the artistic or literary field or through their contribution to the promotion of the arts and literature in France and the world«.
The Order was awarded to Ann-Elisabeth Wolff at the Institut français de Leipzig on 29 October 2009. Charles Malinas, Embassy Counsellor for Culture, Education and Higher Education and Director of the Institut français d'Allemagne in Berlin, presented the »Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la République française« award. He honoured the achievements of Ann-Elisabeth Wolff, who has invited numerous French artists to euro-scene Leipzig and thus made them known in Germany. Dance and theatre productions from France were shown almost every year, mostly as German premieres. Examples include the choreographers Josef Nadj, Angelin Preljocaj, Mathilde Monnier, Alain Buffard, Maguy Marin, Gisèle Vienne, Frédéric Flamand, Olivier Dubois and Pierre Rigal.
In 1999, the focus was on »Lyon« with several guest performances from this twin city of Leipzig. Josef Nadj was invited several times, and in 2008 there was a focus on three of his plays as well as an exhibition of some of his paintings. Over the years, numerous children's plays from France have also been shown, e.g. by Julien Cottereau, Michel Laubu, Catherine Raffaeli and Claire Monot, most of whom were still completely unknown artists at the time, most of whom were tracked down by Ann-Elisabeth Wolff at the Festival d'off in Avignon and delighted Leipzig audiences with their charm.
Franck Trouilloud, Director of the Institut français de Leipzig, hosted a reception after the award ceremony.
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Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst der Republik Österreich
(Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art of the Republic of Austria)
Ann-Elisabeth Wolff was awarded this prize of the Republic of Austria on 20.05.2022 at the Austrian Embassy in Berlin. The award was presented by the Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, Dr. Peter Huber. Also present was Dr. Denise Quistorp, Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin.
Guest performances from Austria have always played a role at euro-scene Leipzig, for example in 1993 there was a guest performance by the Burgtheater Vienna with two plays by George Tabori to open the festival: »Berichte für eine Akademie« (»Reports for an Academy«) and »In der Strafkolonie« (»In the Penal Colony«) after Franz Kafka. Philipp Gehmacher and Milli Bitterli from Vienna made guest appearances as part of the »Dance from Austria« evening. The Theater ohne Grenzen by and with Airan Berg, performer, and Otto Lechner, musician, performed an impressive »Schlappstock« in the Kasematten under the New Town Hall. This was followed by a sensation in 2016: the versatile Nikolaus Habjan, puppeteer, performer, director and artistic whistler, who was not yet known in Germany at the time, was discovered and invited in the very first year with a show of his work, which featured four pieces by and with him as well as a whistling concert. He left his mark on the festival with his plays in all subsequent years until 2020. His most impressive play »F. Zawrel – erbbiologisch und sozial minderwertig« (»F. Zawrel - genetically and socially inferior«) was shown again at Ann-Elisabeth Wolff's farewell in September 2021.
Press release of the Austrian Embassy Berlin, 20.05.2022:
Award of the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art to Ms. Ann-Elisabeth Wolff
The Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, Dr. Peter Huber, will present the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art to Ann-Elisabeth Wolff at the Austrian Embassy in Berlin on 20 May 2022.
As programme director and managing director of the »euro-scene Leipzig« festival, Ms. Wolff has enabled many Austrian artists to perform over the years, often in the context of German premieres, to become known and also to make important contacts. Ann-Elisabeth Wolff regularly traveled through Europe in search of productions of international quality and invited renowned European dance and theatre houses as well as young, yet-to-be-discovered companies to Leipzig.
Ms. Wolff proved to be a friend and connoisseur of the Austrian theater and dance scene, which was also represented at »euro-scene Leipzig« from the very beginning, such as an ensemble from the Vienna Burgtheater with the performance »Berichte für eine Akademie« in 1993, the play »Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel)« by Elfriede Jelinek at Schauspielhaus Leipzig in 2013 and Schauspielhaus Graz with Nikolaus Habjan's »Böhm« in 2018.
Thanks to Ms. Wolff's commitment, innovative and ambitious artists from Austria were given a German stage, which is also a European one. In this way, Ann-Elisabeth Wolff also supported the efforts of the embassy and the Cultural Forum to present and network Austrian contemporary dance and theatre in Germany and to place it in a European context.