Marie-Pierre Bresson and the Board of Directors at France's Opéra de Lille have recently disclosed that Barbara Eckle will assume the role of the company's new director, commencing in 2025. She will take over from Caroline Sonrier, who has held the position since 2003, making Eckle one of only two female directors leading major opera houses in France.

Born in Zürich, Eckle pursued violin studies under Yuri Vodovoz at the Mannes School of Music in New York. She is also an alumna of Oxford University, where she focused on literature and the humanities, and the International Film School in Prague.

Eckle initially entered the opera production scene in New York, contributing to Britten's The Turn of the Screw with the Juilliard School Ensemble and conductor Lorin Maazel. Her collaboration with Maazel extended to his opera 1984, premiering in 2005 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

Beyond her work in opera production, Eckle has a successful career in journalism. Throughout the 2010s, she wrote for both print and digital classical music publications in Germany, with a particular emphasis on contemporary music.

From 2018 to 2020, Eckle served as a dramaturg at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and from 2020 to 2023, she held the position of director of dramaturgy for the opera and concerts at the RUHRTRIENNALE International Arts Festival.