André Turnheim is a director for theatre, opera, TV, events, theatre and festival director and has been artistic director of the Neuschwanstein Concerts since 2024.

Born in Dresden (GDR) and raised in Leipzig and Vienna, he studied acting and directing in Graz and Stuttgart. After graduating, he first worked with Jerzy Grotowski and Teatr Gardzienice in Poland and has since worked as a director and actor in Germany, Austria, England, Poland, Switzerland, the USA, Canada and Scandinavia, with more than 45 productions for theatre and opera, including in Frankfurt, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Cologne, Vienna, Graz, Linz and Salzburg. His major productions include the German-language premiere of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, M – eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder, Shoppen & Ficken by Mark Ravenhill, Minna von Barnhelm by G.E. Lessing and Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald by Ödon von Horvath (both with Hans Sigl), Am Ziel by Thomas Bernhard, Volksvernichtung by Werner Schwab, Torquato Tasso by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Learning Europe by Armin Petras, European cooperation project with Schaupiel Fankfurt, Thalia Theatre Hamburg, National Theatre in Vilnius, Bratislava, Ljubljana and Luxembourg. Elementary Particles by Michel Houllebecq, as well as the operas Kaspar H. by Balduin Sulzer, Fadinger by Ernst Ludwig Leitner, Il Trionfo del Tempo el Disinganno by Georg Friedrich Händel and Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti.

He was the founder and director of the OFF-Theater Trash Theater Köln and from 1998-2002 in the drama department of the Theater Freiburg, directed a summer festival in Saarland and was curator of the City of Vienna for the OFF-Theater from 2007-2009. He is also a guest lecturer at various drama schools (including Graz and Cologne) and in masterclasses for singing and performance for young singers.

In addition to theatre, André Turnheim also works as a picture director for television and supervises theatre, opera and concert recordings for the Salzburg Festival, the Burgtheater Vienna, the Vienna State Opera, the Musiktheater Linz, the Volksbühne Berlin and the Schauspiel Köln, among others. His theatre and opera productions include Lear by William Shakespeare (director: Ong Keng Sen, Theater der Welt Festival Berlin), Rechnitz by Elfriede Jelinek (director: Jossi Wieler), Jedermann by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (Salzburg Festival 2013, 2020), Die Vögel by Walter Braunfels (director: Tina Lanik, Tiroler Festpiele Erl), La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi (director: Peter Konwitschny) or 12 theatre productions created during the pandemic as part of the “Wir spielen für Österreich” series for ORF III, including Bacchae by Euripides from the Burgtheater Vienna (director: Ulrich Rasche), The Threepenny Opera by Bert Brecht and Kurt Weil from the Kammerspiele Wien (director: Thorsten Fischer), or Lumpazivagabundus by Johann Nestroy from the Landestheater Linz (director: Georg Schmiedleitner).
He has also conducted numerous concert broadcasts, such as Hollywood in Vienna for the Konzerthaus Wien, The Messiah by Georg Friedrich Händel for the Tonkünstler Grafenegg, the 50th anniversary of the RSO Vienna 2019 (conductor: Marin Aslop) and Johann Sebabstian Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Tyrolean Festival Erl.

André Turnheim has also directed numerous TV shows, talk shows, news programmes and TV magazines for ORF, WDR, 3sat and Arte (including Konfrontationen zu österreichischen Nationalratswahlen, Club 2, Wahlfahrt 13 und Wahlfahrt Europa, Politik Live, Im Zentrum, Thema, Report, Mayrs Magazin, Kulturmontag, Kultur Spezial Salzburg, Guten Morgen Österreich), as well as special programmes on elections and political events. He works as a coach for presenters, as a lecturer in image direction at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences and is responsible for event direction and dramaturgy for major international events such as the European Cultural Award Gala, Licht ins Dunkel (ORF III), the Nestroy Award Gala and the Austrian World Summit with Arnold Schwarzenegger.