Equally trained as a stage, television and film director as well as a pianist, Michael Beyer has directed more than 250 major music programs for live television, theater casts, DVD/blu-ray and Internet Video Stream.

Born in Celle/Germany, Michael Beyer studied piano, music education and Musical Theater with Goetz Friedrich at the Musikhochschule Hamburg. He completed his training at the New York Film Academy where he shot his short film „Resurrection“.

Though he was still a student, 1993 the Hamburg State Opera took him on as an Assistant Director. There he worked with renowned opera directors, notably Ruth Berghaus, Andreas Homoki, Harry Kupfer, Marco Arturo Marelli, Peter Mussbach, Johannes Schaaf and Robert Wilson.

Additionally he worked as an assistant director for television, mostly with Georg Wuebbolt, Bob Coles, Kirk Browning and Brian Large.

Since 1997 Michael Beyer is free-lancing as a director for stage and television.

His stage productions include Bellini’s „Sonnambula“, “Don Pasquale“ and „Elisir d’amore“ by Gaetano Donizetti and the European Premiere of „Florencia En El Amazonas“ by Daniel Catan.

For television Michael Beyer directed many concert broadcasts, operas and ballets as well as jazz and popular music shows.
His programs feature the major orchestras of our time, like the Berlin, Vienna and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

The list of outstanding conductors he worked with includes Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Bernhard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Kristjan Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Sigismund Kuijken, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, John Williams and Lothar Zagrosek.
Among the featured soloists are pianists Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, Helene Grimaud, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Maurizio Pollini and Yuja Wang; violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, Gidon Kremer, Itzhak Perlman and Lisa Batiashvili; and singers Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Waltraud Meier, Elina Garanca, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Bryn Terfel, Placido Domingo, Thomas Hampson, Sir John Tomlinson and Rolando Villazon.

In addition to his regular work in Europe Michael Beyer has directed Live Shows from Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Beijing, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Pyongyang, Ramallah, Mumbai, Srinagar/India, Kaohsiung/Tawain, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

He has worked at the Bayreuth Festival since 2009, directing Live Broadcasts of Tristan und Isolde (two productions), Walküre, Lohengrin (two productions), Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser and Parsifal

He has been involved in the New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna directing the ballet sequences in 2010, 2012 and 2013. He has directed the full concert in from 2014 – 2017. He will again direct the full concerts and ballets in 2020.

His work for jazz and popular concerts feature a wide array of artists, for example Nana Mouskouri, Jamie Cullum, Cassandra Wilson, Benny Golson, Junior Mance, Johnny Mathis and Gregory Porter.

Among his award-winning DVD productions is the Mahler Cycle with Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra from the KKL Lucerne (2003-2010).