Jan Eßinger has been working as a freelance director since 2017. He quickly made a name for himself with works such as »Eugene Onegin« at the Bregenz Festival and the highly acclaimed baroque discovery »Die getreue Alceste« (G. C. Schürmann) at the »Winter in Schwetzingen« festival and is now returning to Heidelberg for the production of »Werther«.
Jan Eßinger recently made his successful San Francisco debut with Britten's »The Rape of Lucretia« (Merola Opera Program / SF Opera), was engaged for »The Rake’s Progress« (Igor Stravinsky) at the Staatstheater Augsburg and staged »The Golden Dragon« (P. Eötvös) at the MusikTheater an der Wien (chamber opera) as well as »Carmen« at the Saarländisches Staatstheater. He was named in the critics' survey of the magazine »Die Deutsche Bühne« for his direction of the Giselher Klebe opera »Der jüngste Tag«.
Last season, Jan Eßinger made his debut with the open-air production of »Il Trovatore« (G. Verdi) at Staatstheater Braunschweig, directed »Il viaggio a Reims« (G. Rossini) at Theater Krefeld/Mönchengladbach and is next engaged for the staging of the Handel oratorio »Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno« at Theaterzelt am Deutschen Eck/Koblenz.
Since 2020, Jan Eßinger has been regularly asked to teach at the Berlin University of the Arts. Invitations as a lecturer for scenic workshops have already brought him together with various opera studios.