Nagel died on Tuesday, his publisher Suhrkamp said.
Nagel directed the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and the Württembergisches Staatsschauspiel in Stuttgart where he worked with the likes of Rudolf Noelte, Claus Peymann, Peter Zadek and Ute Lemper.
In 1998 he was put in charge of the prose events at the Salzburg Festival. Although he held the post for just a short time, he left a lasting mark on the festival.
Most recently, he worked as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he lectured on the history and aesthetics of the performing arts.
He is the author of several books, including Autonomy and Mercy: Reflections on Mozart?s Operas.
Nagel was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1931. He was forced into hiding from the Nazis in 1944 and, after the war, he was refused a place to study because of his ?bourgeois? origins.
He and his family left Hungary for Switzerland in 1948. He later studied in Paris, Zurich and Frankfurt.
After finishing his studies, he started working as a theatre critic in Munich and was appointed drama director in Munich?s Kammerspiele. He established the Theatre of the World festival in 1981.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
