Having completed his training in Theatre Design at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, Alex Brok left his native shores of The Netherlands in 1999 for Stanford University in California, United States. There, he taught Lighting Design and designed various productions within the theater department of the university, including; A Midsummer Nights Dream, End Game and Die Dreigroschenoper.
Alex went on to work for The San Francisco Opera on several productions. During his time in the US, one of his designs was selected for exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial of Design & Space, Czech Republic in 2003.
Upon his return to The Netherlands Alex worked as a lighting designer for numerous opera, theater and dance productions across Europe. Throughout his career, Alex has worked with leading directors and choreographers and given form to the concepts of leading scenographers in an impressive display of productions which include; Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Aida, Don Carlos, Ernani, Trovatore, West side Story, Alcina, Carmen, Le Conte d’Hoffmann, L'elisir d'amore, Zauberflöte, L'Incoronazione di Poppea, La pietra del paragone, Where the wild things are, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Albert Herring, Death in Venice, Greek, Les mamelles de Tirésias, La voix humaine, Dialogues des carmélites, Gianni Schicchi, Dido and Aeneas, Hänsel und Gretel, Die Dreigroschenoper, Il Matrimonio Segreto, Bastien und Bastienne, Háry János, Dvĕ vdovy (The Two Widows), Příhody lišky Bystroušky (Cunning Little Vixen), Clemenza di Tito, Il signor Bruschino, Carmen, Owen Wingrave, La bohème, Agrippina, Les pêcheurs de perles, Jenufa, Il Trittico, Die Fliegende Holländer, Il barbiere di siviglia, and Lulu.
In recent years,
Alex has designed in colaboration with Floris Visser the critically acclaimed ‘Così fan tutte’ (nominated for 5 Golden Masks) for The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and the award winning Orphée et Eurydice for The Nederlandse Reisopera.
More recently
Alex has designed ‘Il Trittico’ for the Bayerische Staatsoper in München/Munich, ‘Don Carlos’ for Staatsoper Stuttgart and ‘Aïda’ for Opera Bastille. All in collaboration with Lotte de Beer. With Sven-Eric Bechtolf he made a ‘Cosi Fan Tune’ for Teatro del Maggio in Florence. With Jan Philipp Gloger he worked on ‘Dubarry’ and ‘Im weißen Rössl’ in the Volksoper in Vienna. With Ola Mafaalani he made ‘Drive your plow over the bones of the death which is nominated for 5 Latvian theater awards.
Upcoming projects include
‘Die Zauberflöte’ - Volksoper Vienna
‘Der fliegende Holländer’ - De Nationale Opera Amsterdam
‘Spring awakenings’ - Volksoper Wien