Actress Dörte Lyssewski
Dörte Lyssewski has been a member of the ensemble at the Vienna Burgtheater since 2009 and is regarded as one of the most influential actresses in the German-speaking theatre world. Her engagements have taken her to international stages as well as regularly to the Salzburg Festival, where she appeared, among other roles, as the Buhlschaft in Jedermann. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Kainz Medal, the Gertrud Eysoldt Ring, and the Nestroy Prize twice.
About the artist
renowned actress, radio drama and dubbing artist
Career
Dörte Lyssewski made her debut after studying acting at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre at the Berliner Schaubühne, where she remained a member for seven years. During this time, she worked with directors such as Peter Stein, Klaus Michael Grüber, and Luc Bondy. Further engagements took her repeatedly to Schauspiel Zürich, the Deutsches Theater and Volksbühne in Berlin, Schauspielhaus Bochum, and the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris.
Collaboration
Since 2009, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Vienna Burgtheater. She has collaborated with Matthias Hartmann, Ernst Stötzner, Jürgen Gosch, Heiner Müller, Werner Schroeter, Patrice Chéreau, Thomas Vinterberg, Dušan D. Pařízek, Stanislas Nordey, Frank Castorf, La Fura dels Baus, Heiner Müller, and Matthias Rippert, among many others. She has appeared at the Salzburg Festival since 1992, working there with artists such as Andrzej Wajda and Herbert Wernicke. In 1997, she played Stein’s Libussa and was, among other roles, the festival’s Buhlschaft for three years.
On Stage
At the invitation of Gérard Mortier, she took part in numerous music productions in Salzburg. She portrayed Jeanne in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, Andromache in Les Troyens, and performed in Ingo Metzmacher’s Les Choéphores. She followed Mortier to the Ruhrtriennale and later to the Paris Opera, where she appeared as Yvonne in Boesmans’ Yvonne, Princesse de Bourgogne. At the Opéra Montpellier, she appeared under Alain Altinoglu as Penthesilea in Koering’s Penthesilée, Scènes de Chasse. With Sylvain Cambreling, she performed Debussy’s Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien and Schönberg’s Ode to Napoleon. Other musical collaborations brought her together with Claudio Abbado, Marc Piolet, and the ensemble Franui.
Additional engagements include the Wiener Festwochen, the Laeiszhalle and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Duisburg and Berlin Philharmonic halls, the Opéra Montpellier, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and the Heidelberger Frühling. She has also been a regular guest at the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Vienna Musikverein since 2009.
Awards
Her awards include the Kainz Medal (1997), the Gertrud Eysoldt Ring (2004), and the Nestroy Prize (twice).
Her first collection of stories, Der Vulkan oder Die Heilige Irene, was published by Matthes & Seitz in Berlin in 2015. This was followed in 2022 by her translation of H. P. Roché’s Don Juan from French, and in 2026 by her first poetry collection, Exit Pan, published by Klever in Vienna. In 2021, she made her directorial debut at the Salzburg Landestheater with Lenz’s play Der Neue Menoza, followed in 2022 by her first opera production, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera.
