Eve Summer

Hailed “a rising star of stage directing [whose] approach to directing refreshes hope for the future of opera,” Eve Summer is a director, producer, and choreographer. She has been described as having “a gift for translating classic symbolism into familiar detail with just enough flippancy to bring out the fun of the opera without skewing the emotional equation."  This season Eve returns to Opera Columbus, Curtis Opera Theatre, Opera Grand Rapids, and Opera Orlando to direct new productions of Tosca, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Lizbeth, an opera about alleged murderer Lizzie Borden by Thomas Albert. She also makes her debut at Opera Carolina with a new production of Don Giovanni, at the A.J.Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA with Volpone, and finishes her season directing at the Opera Saratoga Summer Festival. Selected recent directing credits include Trouble in Tahiti at the Glimmerglass Festival, Albert Herring at Curtis Opera Theatre, The Little Prince at Tulsa Opera, The Tales of Hoffmann at Opera Orlando, Don Giovanni at Opera Columbus, The Mikado and Così fan tutte at Opera Grand Rapids, The Pearl Fishers at Opera Tampa and Opera in Williamsburg, Bluebeard’s Castle at Mid Ohio Opera, Xerxes at Connecticut Early Music Festival, John Musto’s Later The Same Evening at Boston University, Carmen at MassOpera, Aida and Lucia di Lammermoor at Boheme Opera New Jersey, Suor Angelica with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the world premiere of Larry Bell’s opera Holy Ghosts at the Berklee Performance Center.

Eve’s work has been called “eye-poppingly contemporary,” "a riveting, glorious production from beginning to end," and “can only be described as brilliant." Critics raved that her production of Xerxes was “a delight, and a testament to Summer's gift for banishing stodginess from an art form too often seen as fossilized and elitist”. Critics hailed her recent Albert Herring at Curtis as “exuberant and delightful,” “a drawing room tour de force,” and declared “It is hard to imagine how the performance could have been improved. It was sensational.” Her style is naturalistic, modern, and rooted in the visceral truthfulness of stage plays where she started her directing career. Her theater productions have included The Merry Wives of Windsor, Extremities, A Midsummer night’s Dream, The Woolgatherer, ‘Art,’ Two Gentlemen of Verona and her own play Neighbors, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Berger.  

 

A former professional ballet dancer and choreographer, Eve’s choreography credits include a commission to choreograph a new ballet, Jeanne’s Fantasy, by composer Mark Warhol for the premiere with Contrapose Dance and Fort Point Theatre Channel, Elektra at Des Moines Metro Opera, Falstaff at Opera Colorado, and Don Giovanni at Boston Opera Collaborative. She recently collaborated with renowned choreographer Karole Armitage on the critically acclaimed American premiere of Philip Glass’ Opera-Ballet The Witches of Venice at Opera Saratoga. Eve has served as staff director and choreographer at many opera companies including Boston Lyric Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Colorado, Tulsa Opera, Opera Saratoga, and Opera Boston. www.EveSummerDirector.com