Herbert Wernicke (March 24, 1946 – April 16, 2002) was a German opera director and a set and costume designer. He was born in Auggen, Baden-Württemberg. He studied piano, flute, and directing at the conservatory in Braunschweig and set design at the academy in Munich. After starting out as set and costume designer in Landshut and Wuppertal, and directing his first play in Darmstadt, he directed his first opera, Handel's Belsazar, in 1978 in Darmstadt. The majority of Wernicke's artistic work was at the theater in Basel, where he lived since 1990.