Lydia Steier: The Rockstar” director of the Ruhrtriennale 2027!

Lydia Steier: The Rockstar” director of the Ruhrtriennale 2027!

In an exciting turn of events in the cultural scene, Lydia Steier has today officially taken over the management of the Ruhrtriennale from the 2027 season. How NDR reports, she will be the first female director of this renowned festival and at the same time the youngest artistic director the festival has ever had. Born in the USA in 1978, she succeeds the well-known director Ivo van Hove, who will present his second season as director until August 2025.

Steier's appointment was announced today in Bochum by North Rhine-Westphalia's Culture Minister Ina Brandes: "Lydia Steier is a rock star among opera directors," she praised in her speech. The decision of the supervisory board of Kultur Ruhr GmbH to unanimously appoint Steier for the three seasons 2027 to 2029 was confirmed by the state cabinet on the same day. Steier will take office on November 1, 2026 and is planning a program that promotes encounters and participation, as well as designing the festival as a “love letter to art”.

A look at the Ruhrtriennale

In recent years, the Ruhrtriennale has developed into an international art festival that attracts artists from all over the world. Last year, 70,000 people attended the events in Bochum, Duisburg and Essen. For the coming season, which takes place from August 21st to September 21st, 2025, there are 35 productions on the program, including 13 in-house and co-productions as well as five premieres. Around 630 artists from over 38 countries will take part in the festival.

Steier is known for her visually strong opera productions and has already worked at prestigious houses such as Oper Frankfurt, Opéra national de Paris and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. She began her career as a director at the German National Theater Weimar in 2009, and her production of “Thursday from Light” was voted “Performance of the Year” in 2016. Her awards as “Director of the Year” and several nominations for the German Theater Prize “Der Faust” also underline her outstanding contribution to the cultural landscape.

Supplementary events

However, there is more exciting news in the cultural scene. Today Sarah Connor announced her open-air tour for the summer of 2026, which has the motto “Wild Nights – Open Air 2026”. The tour includes 15 concerts and begins on May 7th in Esch an der Alzette, Luxembourg, and ends on August 27th in Coburg. Concerts are also planned in Rostock and Braunschweig. In addition, an arena tour will take place in Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover in spring 2026, which should delight fans.

At the same time, drummer Matt Cameron is leaving Pearl Jam after almost 30 years. The 62-year-old already thanked his bandmates via Instagram, but did not provide any further details about his decision. The band also spoke out, stating that Cameron will be “seriously missed.”

The Cologne cultural scene remains exciting and varied, both through the high-class events of the Ruhrtriennale under the new leadership of Lydia Steier and through the announced tours and departures of well-known artists.