Johannes Leiacker was born in Landshut. He initially trained as a carpenter in Regensburg, and then went on to study design in Wiesbaden. He worked at the Schauspiel Frankfurt and subsequently at theatres in Dusseldorf, Bonn, Cologne, Stuttgart, Berlin (Schillertheater, Deutsches Theater) and Munich (Residenztheater). First engagements abroad included Copenhagen and Stockholm, for the premiere of Botho Strauss’s Seven Doors. In 2005, he designed the sets for the premiere of Schimmelpfennig’s Supply and Demand (Schauspielhaus Bochum). He has designed sets and costumes for all the leading German opera companies, as well as for opera companies in the most important European venues, including the Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera and the Bolshoi, as well as LA Opera, the Met and the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation. In 2007 he created the set for Tosca on the lake at Bregenz, and has twice been voted best set designer of the year by Opernwelt. His set and costume designs for Tristan und Isolde (ROH, directed by Christoph Loy) won the Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production.