Superintendent and artistic director of Teatro alla Scala in Milano since 2005, he is founder of the Théâtre Mécanique. Among the positions he has held: co-director of the Centre Dramatique National of Nice from 1978 to1983; administrator of Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris until 1988, when he became managing director.
General director of the Orchestre de Paris from 1993 to 1995, from 1998 to 2005 he was co-director of the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord with Peter Brook. From 1998 to 2006 he lent ambition and prestige to the Festival International at Aix-en-Provence, which has become a preferred venue for collaborations between top theater directors and orchestral conductors: Peter Brook and Daniel Harding, Pina Bausch and Pierre Boulez, Stéphane Braunschweig and Simon Rattle, Luc Bondy and Daniel Harding.
Lissner has also been musical director of the Wiener FestWochen (Vienna) since 1998.