Stage director Patrizia di Paolo began her musical career as a pianist and violist. She studied piano at the Conservatorio di Musica di Cagliari and viola at the Conservatorio di Musica di Firenze. As a violist she has performed with the European Community Chamber orchestra, the Rai Orchestra in Milan, the Toscanini Orchestra in Parma, Bologna City Theatre and the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. She later turned her efforts to stage direction and In 2005 she founded “Musica a Palazzo” in Palazzo Barbarigo-Minotto in Venice. In her innovative and well received productions, each act of the opera is presented in a different room of the Palazzo. The intimacy of the setting allows for a high level of interaction between the singers, the instrumentalists and the audience, offering spectators the experience of living the opera from the inside. Her production of “La Traviata” was presented at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton for the 41st Brighton International Festival (UK). The production was warmly praised by audiences and critics and won the Brighton Argus press award for best production of the Festival. Patrizia has directed Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Potsdam International Festival (Germany) and at the Suoni Delle Dolomit Festival, Rigoletto at the Teatro di Silandro, Teatro di Vipiteno, Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, and at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso; Così Fan Tutte at the Teatro di Vipiteno; and La Traviata at the Festival Fontanalirica, and at the Palais Vivienne. For the Trentino Music Festival she has directed Cunning little Vixen, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Le nozze di Figaro,and L’Enfant et les Sortilège.