Italian opera director Caterina Panti Liberovici’s affinity for music began as a teenager, when she studied clarinet, singing and choral singing at the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi of Turin.
Soon after she attended the School of Drama [ Scuola del Teatro Stabile, Turin, directed by Luca Ronconi ] where she excelled in her training as an actress.
From here the progression to opera was a natural one, and her aptitude for music theatre was soon nurtured and rewarded when she was awarded a scholarship at Teatro
alla Scala, Milan in 1994.
Subsequently she worked regularly as an assistant to Luca Ronconi, and from 1994-2006 gained valuable experience as a staff director at alla Scala.
During this period, she also worked as a freelance director in her own right in Italian and European theatres.
Since 2010, she has been a staff director at Oper Frankfurt, where she also celebrated great personal success with her staging of Fioravanti’s Le cantatrici villane and Rossini’s La gazzetta at the Bockenheimer Depot.
During her engagements at Teatro alla Scala and Oper Frankfurt she has assisted visiting directors such as Keith Warner, Vincent Boussard, Johannes Erath, Florentine Klepper, Jürgen Flimm, David Alden, Franco Zeffirelli, Graham Vick, Hugo de Ana and Federico Tiezzi.
As a guest assistant she has worked at theatres such as Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Regio di Torino, La Fenice di Venezia, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, l’Arena di Verona, Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
Several opera projects as director have taken her to the Cantiere Internazionale d’arte in Montepulciano [ L’impresario in angustie | 2018, La Finta Semplice | 2015, L’occasione fa il ladro | 2011 e Il barbiere di Siviglia by G. Paisiello | 2008 ], Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad [ Simone Boccanegra | 2013 and La bohème | 2007 ], Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martinafranca [ L’ambizione delusa | 2013 ], Stanislawski Theater in Moscow [ Luci mie traditrici | 2012 ], Schlosstheater Potsdam [ La scala di seta | 2007 ], Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa [ The little sweep | 2007 ], Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb [ Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali | 2003, I Capuleti e i Montecchi | 2003 ].
Alongside her work as a director and assistant director, she works passionately in the areas of education, devising stagings of opera for younger audiences, and in coaching, working with young singers in the Opera Studio at Oper Frankfurt.
She has been responsible for several hugely successful Kinderopern at Oper Frankfurt, including an award-winning staging of a children’s version of Il barbiere di Siviglia [2013].