Born in Auvers-sur-Oise. Graduated from the Academy of Arts in Paris. From 1966 to 1972, worked on radio and television. From 1972 to 1991, was a set designer and head of the set design department at the Opéra de Paris.
Has designed the sets for many productions including Verdi´s Un ballo in maschera (Opéra de Paris), Offenbach´s Orphée aux enfers (Paris and Graz), Bizet´s Carmen (Toulouse, Grenoble, Bonn, Salzburg, Dublin, Lucerne and Sofia), Mozart´s Cosi fan tutte (Paris´ Opéra Comique, Lille and Nancy), Ravel´s L´Heure espagnole, Mozart´s Don Giovanni (Montpellier, Monte Carlo and Karlsruhe), Dallapiccola´s Volo di notte, Menotti´s Il ladro e la zitella, Strauss´ Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Marseilles), Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict (Berlioz Festival in Lyon), Wagner´s Der Fliegende Holländer (Orange, Freiburg), Strauss' Elektra (Orange), Donizetti´s L´elisir d´amore, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Donizetti´s Don Pasquale (Montreal), Debussy´s Pelléas et Mélisande (Lausanne) and Monteverdi´s Ritorno d´Ulisse in patria (Grand Théâtre de Genève).
Has designed the sets for many productions of operas by Puccin i and Verdi including Puccin i´s La bohème (Lille and Venice), Turandot (Nancy and Rotterdam) and Il trittico (Marseilles) and Verdi´s Aida, La forza del destin o (Marseilles and Orange), Nabucco (Orange), Un ballo in maschera, I vespri siciliani (Montpellier) and Rigoletto (Arena di Verona).
Bernard Arnould has also worked on classics in the Russian repertoire such as Musorgsky´s opera Boris Godunov (Orange).
In addition to working for theatre, Arnould also designs for open air shows (such as the Parc de Loisirs de Lorrain e) and has designed sets for Disneyland Paris. Currently teaches set design at the Ecole d´Architecture de Paris and is preparing an exhibition on Chin a for the Lafayette Gallery. Future plans include set designs for Delibes´ Lakmé (Spoleto Festival) and Meyerbeer´s L´africana (Opéra du Rhin, Strasbourg). La traviata is his first work for the Mariinsky Theatre.
