About

Eva-Maria Melbye is a Danish opera director and Artistic Director of Den Fynske Opera. She graduated with a Diploma in Performing Arts and Media, specialising in Opera Directing, from the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 2008.

Since her debut, Eva-Maria has developed a distinctive artistic voice and a highly personal approach to opera. Her work is rooted in both the music and the dramatic material, with a particular ability to uncover the emotional and thematic core of a piece and translate it into a clear and compelling theatrical language.

Her recent productions at Den Fynske Opera include Giulietta e Romeo by Nicola Vaccaj, which received critical acclaim and was named Opera Production of the Year outside Copenhagen 2025 by CPH Culture. The production returns to Den Fynske Opera in 2026. In spring 2026, she directed Mozart’s Così fan tutte, which played to sold-out houses throughout its run.

Eva-Maria’s work spans classical repertoire as well as contemporary and newly written opera. Her staging of Sol går op, sol går ned by Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen played to sold-out audiences at Takkelloftet at the Royal Danish Opera and was extended with additional performances. Her production of Steingrímur Rohloff’s Biblioteket i Babel was nominated for a Reumert Award for Best Opera.

Internationally, Eva-Maria was nominated for the International Opera Awards in the Young Director category in 2016, while her production of Die Wand at Musiktheater Linz was nominated for the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis.

At the heart of Eva-Maria’s work is a fascination with the raw power of operatic music and the physical presence of the singing body. She is interested in opera as a living and immediate art form, and in how space, proximity and the relationship between performer and audience can become an active part of the theatrical experience.

This approach has also shaped her work outside conventional operatic frameworks, including her staging of Peter Eötvös’ Senza Sangue alongside Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, co-produced by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Bergen National Opera and conducted by Eötvös himself.

Across both established repertoire and new works, Eva-Maria creates opera in which music, bodies, space and storytelling meet – with a strong focus on making the emotional force of the work immediate for a contemporary audience.