About

Eva-Maria Melbye did her Diploma Performing Arts and Media, Opera Directing from the University College of Opera in Stockholm 2008.

Since her debut production Eva-Maria has shown a very personal expression and approach to opera as an art form. Without taking any shortcuts, she grasps the core of the piece both musically and thematically.

Her unique style was showcased in her staging of the new opera “Sol går op sol går ned” by the Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgren. This piece was sold out and prolonged with extra shows at Takkelloftet at The Danish Royal Opera House. She also experienced great success with her production “Biblioteket i Babel” by Steingrimur Rohloff, another newly written piece, which was nominated for the Danish Theatre prize Reumert in the category “Best Opera”.

She was nominated for the 2016 International Opera Awards, Young Director.

Eva-Maria is fascinated by the raw power of the music in opera as well as the singing body. Besides working at an advanced artistic level with opera as a phenomenon and an art form, she also works with projects outside the sphere of conventional opera, where she experiments with using the room of the performance as part of the audiences’ experience. One such project was a staging of the new piece “Senza Sangue” by composer Peter Ëotvös, and Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle”, which were both co-produced by GSO and Bergen National Opera, and conducted by Eötvös.