Wolfgang Puck was named “Chamber Representative”.

Doskozil: “As a renowned director and actor, Wolfgang Puck has successfully taken the Kupersdorf Castle Games to new heights.”

Mayme Wolfgang Puck, Games Director of Kupersdorf Castle, received the professional title of “Chamber Representative” on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in the Assembly Hall of the State Parliament in Eisenstadt. “As director of the Kupersdorf Castle Games since taking over more than twenty years ago, Wolfgang Puck has led the festival to new heights as well as being a popular performer. The range of his skills is enormous – both as a legendary interpreter of Strizzi songs and in his appearances on important international stages and in TV series, which he shaped “I am pleased to be able to confer on him the professional title of ‘Chamber Representative’ on behalf of the Federal President and I warmly congratulate him on this award,” said Cultural Officer Governor Hans-Peter Doskozil, paying tribute to the exceptional artist.

Wolfgang Puck has been directing the Kupersdorf Castle Games since October 2003 and usually takes on the leading roles in the shows. His performance as master butcher Karl Bückerer or Herr von Rappelkopf in The Alpine King and the Misanthrope is unforgettable. In his first season as director in 2004, he was able to double the number of visitors. “Wolfgang Böck has successfully established the Kupersdorf Castle Games as one of the staple games of the Burgenland Cultural Summer. The capacity utilization of more than 90 percent proves the festival’s great reputation and popularity far beyond Burgenland’s borders,” said L.H. Doskozil.

In his laudatory speech, Austrian actor and author Nikolaus Haag praised Bock as a humble, quiet person who “didn't like to be in the spotlight away from the stage. I find his beginnings in the actor's life, as a student at HTL, particularly fascinating. Many actors say they enjoyed being on stage When they were children, Wolfgang Puck says, “This happened to me. He built the Waldfertler Hooft Theater “from nothing, modeled on the Fitzcarraldo Theater,” says Haag, “creating a space to play freely, to play freely. You can't expect more from an artistic director.” For Haag, the fact that Bock was the first independent artist to hold the professional title of “chamber performer” is “an important signal to all independent artists in this country.”

“I would like to thank all the colleagues, managers and friends who accompanied me on my way. Especially with my parents, who supported me even when I was looking for the way to work as an HTL student. My mother is very happy with the award, but unfortunately she will not be able to come today,” Bock said in his words of thanks. “.

The annual trips on vintage motorbikes and cars to the castle games, initiated and always accompanied by the avid motorcyclist and vintage car lover Böck, are especially popular. This year, Peter Turrini's “The Servant of Two Masters” based on Carlo Goldoni and directed by Beverly Blankenship – with Wolfgang Puck in one of the leading roles – is on the program at the Schlossspiele Kobersdorf from July 2 to July 28. With this year's production, Puck celebrates his 20th anniversary as a director.

The actor, who was born in Linz and lives in Burgenland, has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Patronage Award of the Order of Cainz (1984), and the Scrap Award (1985/86 season), as an “Honorary Keeper” of the Austrian Federal Government. “Criminal Police Officers” (2002), twice with “Rumi” as the star of the most popular series (2005 and 2007), with the Actor Award from the German Academy of Dramatic Arts at the Baden-Baden TV Film Festival (2006, jointly with Erwin Steinhauer and Andreas Vitasek) and from the city Vienna Prize “Dear Augustine Monastery” (2011). The state of Burgenland awarded him the State Prize for Culture (category “Theatrical Arts, Cinema and Video”) in 2010 and the Commander's Medal in 2023.

“Wolfgang Puck is a special stroke of luck for the cultural scene in Burgenland, which he played a major role in shaping. I also congratulate him on his 20th anniversary as festival director, and I look forward to spending many more years with him in Kupersdorf,” explained L.H. Doskozil.

Download press photos:
Wolfgang Puck, representative of Chamber 1 Wolfgang Puck, representative of Chamber 2
Wolfgang Puck, representative of Room 3

Photo of Wolfgang Puck, representative of Room 1: State Governor Hans-Peter Doskozil with chamber representative Wolfgang Puck and his wife, Burgenland architect Sonja Kremsner, and ORF Burgenland Mag state director in the state parliament's auditorium in the Eisenstädter Landhaus

Photo of Wolfgang Puck, representative of Room 2, 3: State Governor Hans-Peter Doskozil handed over the certificate of appointment to Chamber Representative Wolfgang Bock

Image source: venerate. State information service

Eisenstadt, June 4, 2024

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