Director Ivo van Hove becomes the intendant of the Ruhrtriennale, an annual manifestation under a three-year leadership of music theatre, theatre, dance and concerts in former factories and industrial buildings in the Ruh area. He will run the event during the period 2024-2026.
The festival has been held since 2002 under an artistic direction that changes every three years, hence the name, and lasts four weeks each year, from mid-August to mid-September. In the meantime, Van Hove will continue his directorial and directorial duties at International Theater Amsterdam (ITA).
“Ivo van Hove inspires a wide audience worldwide with ambitious and very diverse performances. He is a great asset to the Ruhrtriennale and thus to culture in North Rhine-Westphalia in general,” said Minister of Culture and Science in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen.
Van Hove is happy with the appointment: “For me personally it is ‘back to my roots’, to the early 1980s when I made theater together with Jan Versweyveld in unusual places such as harbor warehouses, an old laundry, a cellar and even living rooms. The Ruhrtriennale gives me the opportunity to focus on music theater and theater in particular in the programming.”
He will also direct an annual performance with the ITA ensemble that will have its world premiere during the festival.
On November 1, 2023, Van Hove will officially succeed the current artistic director Barbara Frey.