About
Romanian-British costume designer Marie Jeanne Lecca made her Royal Opera debut in 2000 on The Greek Passion, directed by David Pountney. She has since returned to create costume designs for Wozzeck and Der Ring des Nibelungen, directed by Keith Warner, and for Maskarade, directed by Pountney.
Lecca was born and educated in Bucharest and is now based in London. She has designed costumes for opera companies including La Scala, Milan, Lyric Opera Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Zürich Opera, Bavarian State Opera, the Bolshoi, Opéra Bastille, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bregenz Festival, Opéra de Lyon, Warsaw’s Teatrem Wielki, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and for Salzburg Festival, in repertory including Francesca da Rimini, Die Zauberflöte, Carmen, Les Troyens, Moses und Aron, Khovanshchina, Il trittico, Turandot, Jenufa, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Lulu, King Roger, Die Passagierin, Die Soldaten, Rheingold, Die Walküre, William Tell, Mose in Egitto and La forza del destino all directed by Pountney. Her set and costume designs include Falstaff and Pelléas and Mélisande (ENO), Carmen (Houston, Seattle, Minnesota), Thérèse Raquin (Dallas), Roméo et Juliette (St Gallen Ballet) and Seven Deadly Sins(Opéra national du Rhin).
Lecca is also known for her innovative and inventive puppet designs, which feature in her opera designs including for Faust, Un ballo in maschera and Die Zauberflöte. The Martinu Foundation awarded Lecca a medal for her costume designs for Martinu’s operas Julietta and The Greek Passion. She was nominated for a BAFTA for Amahl and the Night Visitors and was nominated by Opernwelt as Costume Designer of the Year for The Haunted Manor. She was a member of the British team that won the ‘Golden Triga’ at the 2003 Prague Quadrennale.