Per Boye Hansen is an experienced opera, music, and theatre manager. Since 2019, he has been Artistic Director of the National Theatre Opera and the State Opera in Prague.
Born in Oslo in 1957, he served as the Artistic Director of Den Norske Opera (Norwegian National Opera) from 2012 to 2017, during which time the company rose to prominence and gained significant international acclaim.
From 2005 to 2012, he held the position of General and Artistic Director of the Bergen International Festival, the largest festival of its kind in Northern Europe, which annually presents numerous world premieres in dance, theatre, classical music, and opera.
During Hansen’s tenure at the Bergen International Festival, he collaborated with many notable artists, including new works and creations by Jon Fosse, Calixto Bieito, Stefan Herheim, Vegard Vinge/Ida Müller, Magnus Lindberg, Bent Sörensen, and Maurizio Kagel and renowned soloists and conductors such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Mischa Maisky, Evgeny Kissin, Anne Sofie von Otter, Bryn Terfel, Myung-Whun Chung, Marc Minkowski, Sakari Oramo, and Andris Nelsons.
In 2000, he began working as a casting director at the Komische Oper Berlin, where he was appointed deputy to the General Director, Andreas Homoki, in 2003. He was responsible for the company’s operations, building a large ensemble of soloists, engaging guest singers and conductors, and collaborating with numerous esteemed stage directors, including Barrie Kosky, Peter Konwitschny, Hans Neuenfels, Calixto Bieito, David Alden, Richard Jones, and Sebastian Baumgarten.
In 1990, Hansen founded Oslo Arts Management and organized a series of concerts in the Norwegian capital, featuring artists such as Jessye Norman, Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras, Kathleen Battle, Anne Sophie von Otter, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, James Galway and Bryn Terfel. In 1994, he was entrusted with organizing a cycle of concerts for the Norwegian National Olympic Committee, which formed part of the cultural program for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.
From 1984 to 1989, Hansen served as an assistant stage director at the Oper Köln, where he worked alongside Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Hans Neugebauer, and Willy Decker, as well as Michael Hampe, the company’s General Director. In the 1980s, he assisted Hampe and Ponnelle at the Salzburger Festspiele.
In 1982, he established the Oslo Summer Opera company, which he led until 1992. This originally loose association of Norwegian artists ultimately evolved into an annual 10-day festival, featuring performances by Francisco Araiza, Edith Mathis, Delores Ziegler, Lucia Popp, and other renowned singers. As part of the festival Hansen staged the Norwegian premieres of Benjamin Britten’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and Richards Strauss´ "Ariadne auf Naxos", and W. A. Mozart’s "Don Giovanni", "Cosí fan tutte", and "La clemenza di Tito".
In 2011, the Norwegian Minister of Culture appointed him chair of the jury for the International Ibsen Award, a position he held until 2018. Hansen has also been a member of the Board of Dacapo Records (Edition S), a classical and new music label supported by the Danish Ministry of Culture. He has served on the juries for several competitions, including the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, the Ring Award for opera stage directors, Vinceró Opera Singing Competition, and Opera Crown competition in Tblisi.
After studying theatre at the University of Oslo, he furthered his education in opera directing under the supervision of Professor Dieter Bülter-Marell at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, where he graduated in 1983.
