Born in Hagen, Olaf Winter made his debut as a lighting technician in Münster in 1983. From 1986 to 1988 he studied at the Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York. From 1989 to 2001, worked as lighting designer at the Frankfurt Ballet, where he collaborated with William Forsythe. He became Technical director at the Frankfurt Opera in 2001 and has also been Technical director at the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus since 2009.He designed the lighting for some performances by Christoph Marthaler and Anna Viebrock (Luisa Miller and Fidelio in Frankfurt, Kátia Kabanová at the Salzburg Festival), Christoph Nel (Salomé and Parsifal in Frankfurt, Aida at Bayerische Staatsoper), Christof Loy (Armide at the Salzburg Festival, Tristan und Isolde at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Alceste at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Tannhäuser at Dutch National Opera, Das Wunder der Heliane at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Der Ferne Klang in Stockholm, Eugene Onegin in Oslo), Claus Guth (Les Vêpres siciliennes, Tannhäuser, Puccini’s Triptych, Daphné in Frankfurt, Die Frau ohne Schatten at Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Teatro alla Scala Milan, Mozart / Da Ponte cycle at the Salzburg Festival, L’Orfeo at Theater an der Wien, Lohengrin at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Rodelinda at Teatro Real Madrid).He also worked as a freelance artist for many theatres and companies, including the Salzburg Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, Pocket Opera Company, l’Ensemble Modern.Recent engagements include Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Madama Butterfly and Elektra in Frankfurt, Tosca in London, Königskinder at Dutch National Opera and Orphée et Eurydice at the Salzburg Festival.

At the Paris Opera: Kátia Kabanová, 2004; Le nozze di Figaro, 2006; La Traviata, 2007; Wozzeck, 2008; Rigoletto, 2016; Lohengrin, 2017