Vendula Nováková is a music theatre director and music theatre activist born in Czechoslovakia. She studied drama, film and theatre studies and drama education in the Czech Republic. After an Erasmus stay at the Berlin University of the Arts, she spent three years in Berlin’s dance and theatre scene and at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. She then continued her career by studying Musical Theatre Directing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.

The focus of her artistic work is on contemporary music theatre, which is created in collective development processes in collaboration with contemporary composers. In addition to her artistic work, she has been actively involved in cultural policy since 2019. In this context, she co-founded the association »Stimme X e. V. Zeitgenössisches Musiktheater Norddeutschland«, of which she is the chairperson. She is also the artistic director of the festival of the same name. Since 2022 she has represented the nationwide initiative »Netzwerk Freies Musiktheater«, which she co-founded.

Vendula Nováková has developed numerous newcomer, youth and children’s projects with the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Quartier Bremen, Unichor Bremen, Bremer Philharmoniker and Landesmusikrat Hamburg. Her work as a director has been shown at the Spieltriebe Festival in Osnabrück, the Mannheim Summer Festival, the Bremen Theatre, the Musik 21 Niedersachsen Festival and the Heidelberger Frühling International Music Festival. She is artistic director of the NDR Vokalensemble’s crossover series »voiceXchange«.

She also teaches at the Hamburg College of Music and Theatre, the Cologne College of Music and Dance and the Lübeck College of Music, and is a professional translator and language coach for Czech opera literature. Her clients include the Berlin Philharmonic, the Hamburg State Opera, the Elbphilharmonie and the Bremen Theatre.