Michael Kunze comes from an Austrian family, was born in Prague and grew up in Germany. After studying law and earning his doctorate, he began working as a songwriter. When he was dissatisfied with the production of his songs, he produced them himself. He quickly became a successful songwriter and an internationally known pop producer. Over six hundred chart successes, including two number one hits in America, earned him 79 gold and platinum records, an Echo Lifetime Award and the US Grammy. Stars who owe him hits include Gilbert Bécaud, Peter Alexander, Nana Mouskouri, Gitte Haenning, Peter Maffay, Julio Iglesias and Sister Sledge. He also penned over 100 Udo Jürgens lyrics, including "Griechischer Wein" and "Ich war noch niemals in New York". In addition, he developed lasting TV formats and wrote, among other things, the "Peter Alexander Show" for ORF. In the 1980s, he moved from the recording studio to the theater. Initially, he worked on German adaptations of international musical successes such as EVITA, CATS, DAS PHANTOM DER OPER, Disney's DER GLÖCKNER VON NOTRE DAME, DER KÖNIG DER LÖWEN, MAMMA MIA! and WICKED. He has been developing original musicals since the 1990s. Already with his first work ELISABETH (music: Sylvester Levay), he advanced to become the internationally most performed German-language playwright. His subsequent works TANZ DER VAMPIRE (Jim Steinman), MOZART!, REBECCA, LADY BESS and MARIE ANTOINETTE (all set to music by Sylvester Levay) also became international successes. He is considered the creator of the DramaMusical, a new genre of musical theater. He was the only librettist from the German-speaking world to reach Broadway. His pop oratorios DIE ZEHN GEBOTE and LUTHER (music: Dieter Falk) filled large European halls. In 2017, his work DON CAMILLO & PEPPONE (music: Dario Farina) was shown at the Ronacher. His musical MATTERHORN (music: Albert Hammond), premiered in St. Gallen in 2018, deals with the highly topical subject of the threat to nature posed by man. His works have been and are being performed in Paris, Moscow, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. In addition to musical librettos, he has written several non-fiction books, a play about Bertolt Brecht's wife (LENYA), political cabaret texts for the Munich Lach- und Schießgesellschaft, and the book for the opera RAOUL (music: Gershon Kingsley). In addition, Michael Kunze is the author of scientific treatises and books of legal history. The Göttingen Academy of Sciences honored him for this in 2016 with the Brothers Grimm Medal. He is currently working on a non-fiction book on legal history entitled DAS UNSICHTBARE RECHT. Michael Kunze is a member of the US Dramatists Guild, Inc.