MAGALI THOMAS, artistic director

In parallel with her university studies, Magali Thomas began her theatrical training in Paris at the Cours Florent. She had the opportunity to rub shoulders with great artists such as P.Noiret and J.-L.Trintignant who would deeply mark her vision of theatre. In 1997 she became a trainee at the Théâtre du Soleil on the collective creation Et soudain des nuits d'éveil directed by Ariane Mnouchkine and tackled the work of the commedia dell'arte mask with F.Soleri and the Balinese masks on the creation Le dernier caravanserail in 2002. From 1998 to 2002 she joined M.Piquemal's singing class at the Paris Conservatory of Music and in 2002 won a first prize in opera singing at the Cannes Conservatory.
Along with singing, she studies piano, double bass and trumpet.
Magali Thomas as an actress has played in The Last Day of a Convict by Victor Hugo, directed by C.Tartarin, Liolà by Pirandello directed by Z.Gouram at Theater 18, Roméo et Jeannette by A.Alwan, directed by the author at the Théâtre du Renard, Et soudain des nuits d'éveil, directed by A. Mnouchkine at the Théâtre du Soleil. At the National Theater of Nice she performed Dom Juan by Molière, directed by D.Benoin and Avant l'éclipse by Tchekhov, directed by S.Duez; at the Alexandre III Theater in Cannes Point à la ligne of V.Olmy and Georges Dandin by Molière, directed by C.Bouisson. As a singer (contralto) she has the privilege of joining the Ensemble Vocal de M.Piquemal, where she specializes in the sacred music repertoire. She also approaches the roles of Maddalena (Rigoletto), Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Frugola (Il Tabarro), Flora (La Traviata), Taven (Mireille).
She began her career as a theater director in 1995 by winning the young director prize with Inventaire de P.Minyana at the Théâtre Mathis, then in 1996 founded her theater company in Paris and directed I rusteghi de C.Goldoni at the Théâtre de the Bastille and at the Avignon Festival.
In 1997 she collaborated with the Lebanese author A. Farhoud on the French creation of Quand j'étais grande, which she staged at the Aktéon Théatre, revived at the Théâtre de la Bastille. In 2000 she staged The Revolt against the Poor by D.Buzzati and The Condor by J.Jouanneau as part of the Festival Jeunes Compagnies at the Théâtre du Soleil. Since 2006 she has regularly taken part in major opera productions (Opéra de Nice, Monte-Carlo, Avignon). In 2007 she collaborated with P.Marie on the opera Mireille by C.Gounod at the Mizloc festival (Hungary), in 2008 with P.-E.Fourny on the staging of Mozart's Così fan tutte as part of the festival Musiques au coeur of Antibes and in 2010 assisted F.Bélier-Garcia in the French première of Yakich and Poupatchee by H. Levin at the Nouveau Théâtre in Angers.
In 2009 she perfected her technical knowledge by undertaking training as a general stage manager, specializing in lighting, at the Institut Supérieur des Techniques du Spectacle d'Avignon, in partnership with the Opéra Théâtre d'Avignon.
She also devotes herself to theatrical and vocal teaching with children and adolescents from working-class neighborhoods and children with disabilities in Paris, Nice, Cannes and Draguignan. It was in 2010 that she began her collaboration with the Italian composer and conductor Sergio Monterisi by staging the opera L'écureuil dégourdi by N.Rota at the Opéra de Nice; his staging was revived in 2016 in Cannes and in 2017 in Draguignan. At the Théâtre de Monaco she directs her first Carmen. In 2012 she wrote and performed the musical show FRACK!, music by N.Rota taken from films by F.Fellini, premiered in Cannes and at the Théâtre des Variétés in Monaco.
In 2013 she played Teresa Stolz in Viva Verdi at the Musiques aux Etoiles festival in Carpentras, accompanied by the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra.
She is the author of the libretto of Fantasmi all'opera by S.Monterisi, excerpts of which were given at the Coliseum Theater in Saint Petersburg in 2015.
In 2017 she signed the concept, the libretto and the staging of the trans-media opera Peter Pan by S. Monterisi (avant-première at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, world premiere at the Opéra de Nice and in Draguignan in 2019). In 2017 and 2018 she directed and performed Africa et Frontiere, musical shows produced with the Campobasso Music Conservatory and the participation of young migrants from the Gambatesa Reception Center. In June 2018, at the Miramar Theater in Cannes, she staged Le Géant Egoïste, a children's opera by Sergio Monterisi after O.Wilde, the first lyrical production of El Sistema Opéra Méditerranée, of which she was appointed Artistic Director.
Passionate about cinematographic writing, she co-wrote the script for the decalogue La ballade d'Adèle et Dante with A. Saidi and produced the short films: Sonatine, Variations, Colette and Alé. In 2017 she collaborated in the feature film directed by Xavier Ladjointe Armonía, Franco et mon grand-père and in 2021 interpreted the role of Suzanne alongside Claire Duburcq in the short film Les rives du feu by Tom F. Pardo.
As an author she writes the plays: Always there, Frontiere, Angèle or the young girl locked in the music box, the lyrical series DIVINES as well as Naufragés.
She is the author of the libretto for the opera CIRCO!, performed in June 2021 as part of the lyrical season of the Opéra de Nice and the participatory opera BABEL with the sponsorship and images of Yann Arthus-Bertrand performed in June 2022 at the Diacosmie and at the Opéra de Nice. BABEL was selected among the finalists for the music education prize in the creation category and will also be in the next feature film France, une histoire d'amour by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot.