MARIA THERESIA - THE MUSICAL

Author / Composer

• Dieter Falk

  The Düsseldorf composer and pianist Dieter Falk has won multiple Echo awards for his record productions for artists such as PUR, Patricia Kaas, Roger Chapman and Paul Young. Over 50 gold and platinum awards testify to his outstanding career in the music industry. As a pianist, he was awarded the Jazz Award for his solo album Celebrate Bach. Falk was a jury member on Pro7's ‘Popstars’ for two years and discovered the girl band ‘Monrose’. In 2009, Michael Kunze brought him into the musical business. Together they wrote the musicals 10 GEBOTE, LUTHER and BETHLEHEM, which reached over 400,000 spectators and started the German choir boom. Their musical MOSES ran for two years at the Theater St. Gallen and was a hit with audiences. Falk composed KENNST DU DEN MYTHOS, the anniversary musical for Schalke 04, for the MiR Gelsenkirchen. As musical director, he played a key role in the show ‘Nacht der Chöre’ on RTL, which featured artists such as Johannes Oerding, Michael Patrick Kelly and Revolverheld. Since 2024, Falk has been directing stadium singing at Borussia Dortmund and arranging Christmas carols in a pop style for 70,000 fans. He has also been a professor at the music academies in Düsseldorf and Regensburg since 2013, where he passes on his experience to the next generation. His diverse work combines classical, pop and musical-oriented compositions and makes him an influential voice in the German music landscape.

• Paul Falk

  Paul Falk is a renowned German songwriter and music producer. At 28, he is one of the most promising young talents in the industry and has already worked with international artists such as Helene Fischer, Roland Kaiser, Heino and DJ Ötzi. His Düsseldorf-based hit factory is home to successful projects such as REVELLE and OSIS, which have millions of streams on Spotify. With over 250 million streams, several gold and platinum awards and chart-topping hits, Paul Falk is one of the leading composers and producers in the German-speaking world. He began acting and voice acting at a young age, studied acting in Cologne and took acting masterclasses in New York and Los Angeles. As a musician, he gained experience as a keyboardist and singer in the family band ‘Falk & Sons,’ with whom he released two albums. In 2016, he wrote the choir musical LUTHER together with his father and librettist Michael Kunze, which thrilled over 30,000 singers in 2017. This was followed in 2023 by the choir musical BETHLEHEM, which premiered in Düsseldorf with a mega choir of 3,000 performers. In the same year, he founded his own record label, Everglow Records, to provide a platform for young talent.

• Jonathan Zelter

  Words that stay. Jonathan Zelter writes songs that touch people. In 2015, he wrote ‘Ein Teil von meinem Herzen’ (A Part of My Heart), which was not only his debut single but also a song that has, over time, become a modern classic – over 20 million views on YouTube alone and numerous cover versions demonstrate its timeless relevance. But Zelter doesn't just write for himself, he also writes for others: he wrote ‘Zuversicht’ and ‘Achtung und Respekt’ for Roland Kaiser, among others – songs that have been sung in front of over 40,000 people in sold-out stadiums. His work has been awarded gold and platinum several times and is part of several number one albums in Germany and Austria. Artists such as Mary Roos and Peggy March (‘I Will Follow Him’) also trust his signature style. In 2025, the songwriter will start the year with two top positions in the Austrian album charts, go on a major tour of Germany as a successful live artist, appear on various TV shows and bring his versatile experience as a lyricist to the brand-new VBW musical MARIA THERESIA - DAS MUSICAL.

• Thomas Kahry

  Thomas Kahry celebrated his breakthrough as an author at the Burgtheater in Vienna, where his musical theatre piece SPATZ UND ENGEL aka PIAF/DIETRICH (co-author: Daniel Große Boymann) ran for over seven years. This was followed by new productions in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, the Czech Republic, Montreal and Toronto, where the Canadian production won the 2020 Dora Award for Best Production of the Year. In 2026, the show will continue its international success story with a new production at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, among other venues. His musical AUGUSTIN (co-author Christoph Weyers, music: Wolfgang Ambros) will premiere at the Musicalsommer Amstetten in 2025. Together with Christian Struppeck, he wrote the show WE ARE MUSICAL for the VBW for the reopening of the Raimund Theater (2021). He wrote the gala HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA (2022) for Alan Menken together with Michael Balgavy. He is currently working on several new musical theatre projects, including two collaborations with Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn (HOUDINI, among others) and a play with Broadway director and author Gordon Greenberg, which will premiere in 2026. As a translator, he is responsible for the German versions of DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS (Gordon Greenberg, Steve Rosen), THE PORTUGUESE KID (John Patrick Shanley) and CHARLEY (Michael Reed, Jon van Eerd), among others.

• Christian Struppeck

  He is the inventor, co-author and co-director of the successful musical ICH WAR NOCH NIEMALS IN NEW YORK, which was created in close collaboration with Udo Jürgens (Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Tokyo, Munich, Zurich, Stuttgart, Linz, Salzburg, Bregenz, Oberhausen, Thun and as a cinema film adaptation) and co-author of I AM FROM AUSTRIA, the musical with hits by Rainhard Fendrich (Vienna, Osaka, Tokyo, TV broadcast). Together with the Broadway star composer and three-time Oscar winner Stephen Schwartz, he wrote the musical SCHIKANEDER, which celebrated its premiere in Vienna in a production by legendary director Sir Trevor Nunn (‘THE Musical Of The Year’ - The Stage Magazine, London). He is also the author and creative developer of the musical THE VISIT (Thun, Vienna, Tecklenburg, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya) and wrote the musical comedy WEEKEND AND SUNSHINE (Stuttgart, Lucerne, among others), as well as new book versions of THE THREE FROM THE PETROL STATION (Berlin, Vienna, among others), BEAUTIFUL HELENA and FRAU LUNA. He was also the creative developer of the successful Swiss musical production DÄLLEBACH KARI (Thun, Zurich, Bern, awarded as ‘Best Swiss Musical’). He developed two musical TV concerts for the ORF series WIR SPIELEN FÜR ÖSTERREICH and also wrote the concepts for DIE GROSSE RAIMUND THEATER-ERÖFFNUNGSGALA and DAS GROSSE VBW-TV-KONZERT, which he also hosted himself. He also developed his own musical talk show, TALK TIME, which ran for 12 episodes and was broadcast on all of the VBW's social media channels and on ORF III. He is currently working on several new VBW musicals.