Germán Droghetti †

The Chilean set and costume designer Germán Droghetti worked internationally from 1985 in the fields of opera, ballet, theater, musical productions, and television. As a professor in the Department of Set and Costume Design, he also taught at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Chile. His work for opera and ballet productions took him to international venues, including the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, the Washington National Opera, as well as theaters in Germany such as the Bühnen Halle an der Saale, the Handel Festival in Göttingen, and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (with director Michael Hampe for Le nozze di Figaro). Throughout his career, Droghetti collaborated with directors such as Paolo Montarsolo, Igor Folwill, Antonello Madau-Diaz, and Filippo Crivelli. His work earned him several prestigious awards.

At the Cologne Opera, he created the sets and costumes for La Bohème in the 2015/16 season, directed by Michael Hampe. He also designed the sets and costumes for the first new production of the 2020/21 season, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, again directed by Michael Hampe.

After a brief illness, Germán Droghetti unexpectedly passed away on June 16, 2020, in Santiago de Chile, where he had made his home and had a long-standing connection with its Teatro Municipal. He was 62 years old. The Cologne Opera dedicates the new production of Mozart's The Magic Flute to his memory.