“Coming soon: Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, staged by Benjamin Prins, who already demonstrated this season with Les Contes d’Hoffmann what enormous talent he possesses.”
Opernwelt, J. Otten, 2026
I was born in Lisieux in 1982, as the son of a nurse and a businessman, and grew up in the small town of Yvetot, Normandy, a place where opera seemed far away until a music teacher, Jean-Joël Duchesne, invited me as a child to step onto the stage of Rouen’s Opera House.
There I discovered at age 10 La Bohème and Tosca by Puccini, Die Zauberflöte by Mozart, Carmen by Bizet, Orphée aux Enfers by Offenbach, as well as Wozzeck by Berg, as well as the works of Benjamin Britten. These early encounters with the repertoire shaped my understanding of opera not as an abstract art form, but as a living experience. Opera became for me a refuge, a space of research where beauty and narration arise from shared intelligence.
“The director Benjamin Prins succeeds in highlighting the magical aspect of the story while delivering an exciting dramatic twist in a coherent interpretation. ”
Der Opernfreud, J. Rüth
At the same time, I began acting very early in the municipal theatre company of Yvetot, directed by Marie-Frédérique Dehays. There, I was introduced to the techniques of contemporary theatre-making, shaped by collective creation processes and inspired by the working philosophy of the Théâtre du Soleil. This formative experience grounded me in ensemble work and dramaturgy developed from rehearsal, and a deep belief in theatre as a shared civic act.
“There is no trace of petty bourgeois spirit or even conservatism”
Thüringer Allgemeine, M. Helbing”
Before fully committing to stage direction, I studied Law, Political Science and Linguistics at the University of Montpellier. This academic background continues to inform my dramaturgical thinking: I approach each work as a complex system of language, power, myth and human behavior.
A decisive turning point came during my exchange year in the United States (1999–2000). There, I worked with stage director Derrick Gronewold and discovered the efficiency and pragmatism of the American production system. I experienced firsthand the precision of technical teams, the crucial role of props or stage management departments, the fast-paced rehearsal schedules, sometimes mounting one production per month, and the performer’s versatility in both musical theatre and classical drama. Acting at age 17 in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare revealed to me a culture of performance rooted in clarity, rhythm and professional discipline. It was there that I truly understood theatre as an apparatus, a living machine requiring very specific skills.
I then moved to Vienna and graduated with honors in Musical Theatre Direction from the University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw), where I studied with Reto Nickler. Vienna was my true workshop. There, I learned the craft — the Handwerk — of opera: precision, structure, rhythm, and responsibility toward the score.
“A superb and incisive work.”
Opéra Magazine
Between 2005 and 2012, I assisted some of Europe’s leading opera directors in more than sixty productions, working at houses such as the Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, Volksoper Wien, La Fenice in Venice, the Munich Opera Festival and Shanghai Opera. Collaborations with Olivier Py, Andreï Șerban, Sir David Pountney, Johannes Weigand, Carlos Wagner and Waut Koeken profoundly shaped my artistic language.
In 2014, encouraged by Olivier Py, I founded my own company dedicated to a New Popular Musical Theatre: Collectif Faille. Within this structure, I produced and directed several projects, including Antigone by Sophocle in the Montpellier region. This initiative continues to inspire my larger-scale opera productions.
Over the years, I have developed my own artistic approach, which I call Smart Entertainment: an opera that is intellectually rigorous yet emotionally immediate; critical yet generous; aesthetically ambitious yet accessible to a broad audience. I do not believe in provocation for its own sake, nor in sterile conservatism. Instead, I search for what I consider a “third way”: a theatre that respects the work while revealing its urgency for our time.
“First-class entertainement.”
De Limburger, M. Wiche
My productions, including Faust, Turandot, Don Giovanni, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Carmen, Roméo et Juliette, Idomeneo, Orphée aux Enfers, Fantasio, Così fan tutte and Bluebeard’s Castle, often explore the intersection of individual freedom and collective structures.
Whether set in a psychologically charged contemporary space or within a more historicized landscape, my stagings place the singer-actor at the very center of the dramaturgy. Every gesture, every silence, every image must arise from, and serve, interpretation. Technology, including video, is never ornamental; it is integrated as a narrative force, extending the emotional and symbolic architecture of the work rather than illustrating it.
“Benjamin Prins breathes new life into the opera of Nordhausen”
M. Wiesend, specialized blog
Since 2022, I have been serving as Operndirektor and principal stage director at Theater Nordhausen in Germany. In this position, I oversee artistic planning, casting, production development and strategic orientation of the opera department. I work closely with conductors, dramaturgs, technical teams, workshops and administration, fostering a collaborative culture based on dialogue, precision and trust. Leadership, to me, means creating the conditions in which artists can take risks and audiences feel addressed.
At Nordhausen, I have strengthened interdisciplinary cooperation, participated to new audience-centered formats (from matinées and open rehearsals to culinary talks and opera balls), and developed touring and educational projects that bring opera beyond the theatre walls. I am deeply committed to mediation and transmission: opera must not retreat into elitism; it must engage with society.
“What a striking metaphor for the irrevocability of destroyed ideals”.
Das Opernglas, J. Gahre
Alongside my directing work, I have taught masterclasses, developed productions for young audiences for venues like Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Philharmonie Luxemburg and completed a three-year training as a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique®, with artist coach Agnès de Brunhoff which inspires my work with performers through attention to physical awareness and charismatic presence.
“We must continue to closely follow what is happening in Nordhausen”.
Opernwelt, A. Heidenreich, 2025
Fluent in French, German, English and Italian, and shaped by both French and German cultural traditions, I see opera as a European art of dialogue between generations and aesthetic traditions. My work moves constantly between the political and the poetic. I believe that musical theatre, when practiced with responsibility and imagination, remains one of the most powerful spaces for collective reflection and emotional transformation.
