“I feel very honored that I have the opportunity to work in Prague – in the city with an amazing opera tradition,” said Per Boye Hansen. “Czech opera history, two National Theatre companies and three beautiful opera houses can contribute greatly to the international opera world. I am looking forward to their further development with all my new colleagues,” he added. The selection of suitable candidates for the prestigious position started in November 2017. Hansen was chosen based on recommendations by the executive director of the prestigious international organization Opera Europa and other outstanding figures of European theatre, and after consultations with the Guarantee Board of the National Theatre.
From April 2012 to July 2017, Per Boye Hansen was an artistic director of the Norwegian National Opera, which has moved up among the top opera stages and enjoys international fame and acknowledgement. From 2005 to 2012 he was the artistic and engineering director of the Bergen International Festival. He was the jury member of the BBC Singer of the World (Cardiff, 2013), International Opera Awards (2017) and a jury member of the Ring Award (Graz, 2017). Starting in 1999, he was the casting director of Komische Oper Berlin. In 1984-1998, he worked as an assistant opera director in Cologne. In the 1970s he was the assistant to Michael Hampe and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle at the Salzburg Festival. In 1982 he founded the Summer Opera Company in Oslo, which he artistically managed until 1992. After graduating from Theatre Studies at Oslo University, he studied Opera Directing under Professor Dieter Bülter-Marell at Folkwanghochschule in Essen, Germany.