Jean Kalman Lighting designer

Season 23/24 Artist

Jean Kalman was born in Paris in 1945 and since 1979 he has created the lighting for countless theatre and opera productions in France, Japan, Great Britain, Holland, and Italy. 

He has worked with numerous directors including Peter Brook, Hans Peter Cloos, Pierre Audi (for whom he created the lighting for several productions at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Iphigénie en Aulide, Iphigénie en Tauride and Pélléas et Mélisande at La Monnaie in Brussels as well as Attila at New York’s Metropolitan Opera), Robert Carsen (Nabucco, Alcina, and Les Contes d’Hoffmann among others at the Paris Opera), Nicholas Hytner, Tim Albery, Zhang Yimou (Turandot at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), Jean-Louis Martinoty (Le Nozze di Figaro at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), Francesca Zambello (Dialogues des carmélites and Boris Godunov at the Paris Opera), Jonathan Miller, Tim Supple, Adrian Noble, and Deborah Warner...

He created the sets and lighting for the Deborah Warner production of Fidelio at the Glyndebourne Festival as well as the lighting design for the world premiere productions of Dionysos (Wolfgang Rihm) at the Salzburg Festival and Gisela ! (Henze) at the Ruhrtriennale. 

Jean Kalman received the 1991 Laurence Olivier Best Lighting Design Award for Richard III at London’s Royal National Theatre and the 2004 Evening Standard Award for Festen at the Almeida Theatre. 

During the 21/22 season, he created the lighting for Die Zauberflöte at the Theater Basel, Otello at the Vienna State Opera, La Traviata at the Royal Opera House in London, Alcina at the Paris Opera, La Bohème at the opera houses in Antwerp, Ghent and Cincinnati, I Capuleti e i Montecchi at at La Scala in Milan, Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Orfeo ed Euridice at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and Titon et l’Aurore at the Royal Opera in Versailles.