Elke Neidhardt

Elke Cordelia Neidhardt AM (5 July 1941 – 25 November 2013) was a German Australian actress and opera and theatre director. She appeared in theatre, television and feature films in Germany, Austria, France and Australia, and directed operas in Zurich, Amsterdam, Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Vienna, Cologne and Australia. She is best known in Australia for directing operas with Opera Australia, and most particularly for directing the first full modern Australian production of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, in Adelaide in 2004.

Elke Neidhardt was born in Stuttgart. She graduated from the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, and later directed operas in Zurich, Amsterdam, Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and Vienna. She married an Australian and moved to Melbourne. In 1967 she played Dr. Anna Steiner, a German doctor, in some episodes of the television series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Neidhardt then appeared in other Australian television series such as The Link Men (1970) and Shannon's Mob (1975). She was also in a small number of Australian feature films, including Libido (1973; in which she appeared nude),Alvin Purple (1973) and The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975). Her last film was Inside Looking Out (1977).

From 1977 to 1990 Neidhardt was the resident director for Opera Australia. She returned to Germany for six years, working at the Cologne State Opera and directing three productions of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.

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