Christof Loy studied the staging of music theatre at the Folkwang-Hochschule in his home town Essen, as well as philosophy, history of art and Italian philology in Munich. Afterwards he worked as an assistant for (among others) Luc Bondy, Jaroslav Chundela and Göran Järvefelt. Further productions include Gluck’s "Orphée" (1998) and "The Damnation of Faust" (2000) in Bremen, "Ideomeneo" (1999) in Bonn, "Don Giovanni" (1999) in Graz, as well as a number of projects at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels – such as "Le Nozze di Figaro" (1998), "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (1999) "Eugene Onegin", "Rosenkavalier" (2001), "La Bohème" (2002). Christof Loy is a regular guest at Hamburg State Opera (2002 "Alcina", 2005 "Il Turco in Italia"), at Bavarian state Opera, Munich (2003 "Saul", 2004 "Roberto Devereux"), and at Frankfurt Opera (2003 "The Abduction from the Seraglio", 2005 "The Damnation of Faust", 2006 "La Clemenza di Tito" and "La Finta Semplice").  Loy has been maintaining a close collaboration with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg, where he has realized a broad range of projects such as "Manon", "La finta giardiniera", "Lucia di Lammermoor", "Don Carlos", "L’Italiana in Algeri", "Cavalleria rusticana / I Pagliacci", "Les Contes d’Hoffmann", a Monteverdi cycle with "L’Orfeo", "Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria" and "L’Incoronazione di Poppea", "Les Troyens" and "La belle Hélène". In 2005, the project "Mozart in Paris" was realized in collaboration with the Stuttgart State Theatre, Hamburg State Opera and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, a retelling by Christof Loy based on letters written by the Mozart family. Loy, who received the "Music award of the city of Duisburg" in 2001, gave his very successful debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2002 with Gluck’s "Iphigénie en Aulide" ("Iphigenia in Aulis"). He staged Strauss’ "Ariadne auf Naxos" for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden soon afterwards and was nominated for the Lawrence-Olivier-Award for this production. His latest project is Mozart’s "La Finta Semplice" at Frankfurt Opera. A number of Christof Loy’s projects have been documented on film: "L’Orfeo" (Speranza classics), "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (hrMedia), and "Roberto Devereux" (Deutsche Grammophon, June 2006).  In 2003 and 2004, Christof Loy was voted "Director of the Year" by the critics of "Opernwelt" magazine. Scheduled projects are, amongst others, "Arabella" (Gothenburg Opera, premieres 25th November 2006), "Giulio Cesare" (Theater an der Wien, premieres 3rd April 2007), "Simon Boccanegra" (Frankfurt Opera, premieres 20th May 2007), "Armida" (Salzburg Festival, July 2007), "Lucio Silla" (Royal Danish Theatre, Kopenhagen, premieres 22nd December 2007).