The Götz Friedrich Prize for the 2024/25 season goes to Aileen Schneider for her production of Aribert Reimann's MELUSINE at Oper Frankfurt (Bockenheimer Depot). The award ceremony for the prize, which is endowed with €5,000, will take place on 10 November 2024 at 8 p.m. in the Tischlerei at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

For over twenty years, the Götz Friedrich Prize has been one of the most important institutions for promoting outstanding talent in the field of musical theatre direction – prize winners such as Stefan Herheim, Nadja Loschky and Sebastian Baumgarten are just a few examples. After being organised by the German-Language Opera Conference in recent years, the Götz Friedrich Prize has returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the main venue of its namesake, since the 2022/23 season. The members of the jury, whose vote was unanimous, are Lotte de Beer (Vienna Volksoper), Dorothea Hartmann (Wiesbaden State Theatre), Beate Breidenbach (Zurich Opera House), Wolfgang Nägele (Bielefeld Theatre) and Jörg Königsdorf (Deutsche Oper Berlin). The Götz Friedrich Prize is financially supported by the Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Friends of the Deutsche Oper Berlin).

Aileen Schneider studied musical theatre direction at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre from 2012 to 2016. During this time, she took part in several masterclasses with Willy Decker. In 2015, she staged Philip Glass's THE SOUND OF A VOICE at the Opera Stabile of the Hamburg State Opera, before successfully completing her studies in 2016 with a new production of Viktor Ullmann's DER KAISER VON ATLANTIS. From 2017 to 2020, she was permanently employed as an assistant director at the Augsburg State Theatre. There she directed, among other things, the children's opera DIE GROSSE WÖRTERFABRIK (The Great Word Factory) and, in 2021, IN DER STRAFKOLONIE (In the Penal Colony) by Philip Glass. In 2020, she moved to the Frankfurt Opera as an assistant director. In the 2024/25 season, she directed MELUSINE by Aribert Reimann there. Next season, she will return to the Augsburg State Theatre with a new production of CARMEN. In 2022, she worked on the double bill IL COMBATTIMENTO / THROUGH HIS TEETH (Monteverdi / Bedford) at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. In 2023, the world premiere of the musical theatre piece ICH / ICH / ICH took place at the Landestheater Detmold, for which she was responsible not only for the artistic direction but also as librettist. In October 2025, the world premiere of her libretto VIEL ZU FEEL (composition: Patrick Schäfer) will follow at the same venue. Since 2024, Aileen Schneider has held a teaching position for scenic acting at the University of Music Würzburg. From 2021 to 2024, she held the same position at the Mainz University of Music. She is also a professional spoken word poet and playwright. In 2022, she won the Hessen championship title in poetry slam. In her youth, she won prizes at Jugend Musiziert in piano and also received regular lessons in saxophone and singing. She has also worked as a composer, receiving a three-year composition scholarship from the YAMAHA Music Foundation in 2001 as its youngest participant and winning the Jeunesses musicales national composition competition in 2011. She was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Foundation and the Alfred Toepfer Foundation for Innovative Concert Ideas.