Katharina Thoma studied piano at the Music High School in Lübeck, before becoming interested in operatic direction. She worked as an assistant at the Kassel Staatstheater and at Oper Frankfurt, where directors with whom she worked included Richard Jones, Christof Loy and Keith Warner. She was awarded distinction at Camerata Nuova’s 2007 European Operatic Direction Prize and began working free-lance in 2008. Productions since then have included Vanessa at Malmö Opera, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera at Oper Frankfurt, Eugen Onegin at Theater Nordhausen, Joneleit’s Piero – Ende der Nacht/Piero – End of the Night at the Munich Biennale (a co-production with Oper Frankfurt), Madame Butterfly at the Volksoper in Stockholm, Die Zauberflöte at Staatstheater Kassel, and Cavalli’s Eliogabalo and La Bohème at Oper Dortmund, where she has been house director since the 2011/12 season. She will direct the opening new production of Glyndebourne Festival’s 2013 season. Katharina Thoma taught at the Music High School in Mainz from 2008-2012, during which time she also directed some works, including Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and the chamber opera Wir sind daheim/We are at home by Moritz Eggert.