Johan Simons is a Dutch theater director.

Simons received his education at the Rotterdam Dance Academy and the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. He also taught directing in Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

 for a number of years.

From about the year 2000 onward, Simons has received international recognition for his directing. He has been regularly invited as a guest director for some of the leading German-language theatre companies, including the Schauspielhaus Zürich

Schauspielhaus Zürich

The Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the German-speaking world. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" after its location on the Pfauen Square in Zürich, Switzerland. The large theatre has 750 seats...

, the Schauspielhaus Stuttgart, the Ruhrtriennale

Ruhrtriennale

The Ruhrtriennale is an annual music and arts festival in the northwestern area of Germany which runs between mid-August and mid-October. It was founded in 2002 by the government of North Rhine-Westphalia with Gerard Mortier, the impresario and former artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, as...

, and the Münchner Kammerspiele. In addition to directing plays, he has also directed several operas, including Verdi's Simon Boccanegra

Simon Boccanegra

Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....

 at the Opéra Bastille

Opéra Bastille

L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....

 in 2006 and Mozart's Il Seraglio

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...

 at the De Nederlandse Opera

De Nederlandse Opera

De Nederlandse Opera , in Amsterdam, is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Het Muziektheater, a modern building designed by Cees Dam which opened in 1986....

in 2008.

Simons has been artistic director of the Münchner Kammerspiele since 2010.