Marie-Ève
Signeyrole

Marie-Ève Signeyrole is a French stage director and author whose opera productions have received widespread international acclaim. Hailed as “breathtaking” by Le Figaro and described by Olyrix as “immersive, at the crossroads of opera, theatre, and performance,” her work was recognized in 2024 with a nomination for Best Director at the International Opera Awards.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include Der fliegende Holländer at the Rouen Opera, in a co-production with the Nancy Opera, and Così fan tutte at the Wiesbaden State Theatre, created in collaboration with the Lyon Opera—a production widely praised by critics.

Her recent work includes major productions such as Macbeth at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Cherubini’s Médée at the Opéra Comique, and Così fan tutte at the Opéra de Lyon. She also revived Bernard Foccroulle’s Cassandra at the Berlin State Opera following its world premiere at La Monnaie in Brussels. She directed Roméo et Juliette and Belshazzar at the Theater an der Wien and staged the world premiere of Négar by Keyvan Chemirani at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, based on a libretto she co-wrote with Sonia Hossein-Pour.

Other recent productions include Turandot at the Semperoper Dresden, L’infedeltà delusa at the Bavarian State Opera, Frédégonde at Theater Dortmund, Rigoletto at the Opéra national de Montpellier, and a trilogy of landmark productions—Norma, Samson et Dalila, and Don Giovanni—at the Opéra national du Rhin.

She also directed Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the Hanover State Theatre, earning a nomination for the German Faust Prize in 2019. Additional productions include Nabucco for the Opéra de Lille and the Opéra de Dijon, Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter at Zurich Opera, and Carmen at the Latvian National Opera in Riga. At the Opéra national de Montpellier, she presented double bills of Il Tabarro and Palais Royal, as well as La notte di un nevrastenico alongside Gianni Schicchi. Further credits include Owen Wingrave at the Opéra national de Lorraine, Wolf-Ferrari’s Cinderella at the Opéra national du Rhin, and Eugene Onegin at the opera houses of Limoges and Montpellier.

In 2015, at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and under the musical direction of Sir Simon Rattle, she directed the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Le Monstre du labyrinthe. The production was enthusiastically received by critics and was subsequently revived at venues including the Opéra de Lille, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Opéra national de Montpellier.

Alongside her work in opera houses, Marie-Ève Signeyrole develops her own musical projects that break down disciplinary boundaries and actively engage audiences. These include Sex’y, a participatory performance at the Opéra national de Paris; La Soupe Pop, a socially engaged project at the Opéra national de Montpellier; and Baby Doll, a symphonic collaboration with the Yom Quartet presented at the Opéra de Lyon, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Philharmonie de Paris.

She is also the creator of 14+18, a musical work developed for the Opéra national de Paris as part of the educational programme Ten Months of School and Opera, in collaboration with the opera houses of Nancy, Montpellier, and Limoges. In addition, she was a fellow of the Académie Européenne de Musique of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where she worked both as an author and as a director.

Marie-Ève Signeyrole studied Modern Literature at the Sorbonne and holds a Master’s degree in Film from the Institut International de l’Image et du Son. Since the beginning of her career, she has worked across film, theatre, and opera. As a filmmaker, she served as artistic director and director for Ellios Production and, in 2009, completed her second feature film, Alice au pays s’émerveille, starring Emir Kusturica.

At Oper Köln, she will open the 2026/27 season with her production of Der Rosenkavalier, inaugurating a new era for Cologne Opera as it returns to its historic home on Offenbachplatz.