The Berliner Festspiele has shared the following message:
On the night of 30 December 2025, Ulrich Eckhardt, long-time artistic director of the Berliner Festspiele (1973-2000), passed away at the age of 91 after a short illness.
Ulrich Eckhardt (born May 28, 1934, Rheine/Westphalia) was an outstanding cultural manager, musician, lawyer and, for decades, a defining figure on the international and Berlin cultural scene. The Berliner Festspiele mourn the loss of Ulrich Eckhardt. At the same time, we thank him for his extraordinary commitment, which is inextricably linked to the history of the institution and the city of Berlin.
After studying law and political science in Freiburg and Münster, training as a pianist and conductor, working as a répétiteur and conductor at the Stadttheater Münster and as cultural advisor to the city of Bonn, Eckhardt took over as artistic director of Berliner Festspiele GmbH in 1973, which he led with visionary energy until the end of 2000. During these almost 28 years, he opened the institution to all branches of the performing and visual arts, thereby shaping Berlin's profile as an international cultural metropolis.
Under his directorship, key festival formats such as the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), the Berliner Festwochen, the Theatertreffen, the Jazzfest Berlin, the Musik-Biennale and the Berliner Lektionen discussion series at the Renaissance Theatre were developed. His programmes always saw themselves as interfaces between political diagnosis of the times, artistic innovation and international dialogue.
Highlights under his leadership included the thematic festival weeks with cultural history exhibitions such as Preußen - Versuch einer Bilanz (Prussia - An Attempt at Taking Stock) at the Martin Gropius Bau, the coordination of the city's festivities with large-scale festival contributions for Berlin's 750th anniversary in 1987, and responsibility for numerous artistic focal points on reunification, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, and the turn of the millennium.
Eckhardt was known for his cosmopolitan programming and his tireless commitment to providing a forum for East and West artists in divided and reunified Berlin. During his time as artistic director, the role of the festival as a place of exchange and artistic encounter was repeatedly redefined - as a place that enables thinking, discourse and dialogue across borders.
"Ulrich Eckhardt not only made cultural policy history in the city, but also designed pioneering, courageous artistic programmes and set socially relevant themes for the whole of Germany and internationally. He was a brilliant networker, whether before reunification as a "secret" cultural policy channel of communication between the West Berlin Senate and the East Berlin magistrate, or after reunification, when he knew how to convince politicians of the need for cultural reunification to follow political reunification. Year after year, as a cooperation partner, he convinced numerous cultural figures in the city of the themes that he knew how to promote prominently and city-wide, both artistically and discursively, with the Berlin Festival. He shaped Berlin's cultural life as well as a modern, memory-conscious and future-oriented understanding of culture in Germany for longer and more sustainably than almost anyone else."
- Matthias Pees, Intendant der Berliner Festspiele
After stepping down as artistic director, Ulrich Eckhardt continued to perform as a concert musician, including as organist at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche and St. Annen-Kirche in Berlin-Dahlem. He also opened and ran the Abakus Jo Eckhardt gallery/publishing house (2008-2016).
The Berliner Festspiele pays tribute to its most important and influential artistic director. With the passing of Ulrich Eckhardt, the art and culture world has lost a formative driving force and a true cultural visionary. Our sincere condolences go out to his family, companions and all those who valued him as a mentor, partner and friend.