Anna Maria Meo
A musicologist and theatre and music organiser, she was born in Crotone and has lived in Florence for many years, where she completed her university studies in Music History with distinguished scholars including Paolo Fabbri and Ludovico Zorzi. She graduated from the University of Siena under Luciano Alberti, with a thesis on music management in Italy. Over the following two years, she attended the Advanced Course for Music Professionals at the Centro di Didattica e Sperimentazione Musicale di Fiesole, completing one year of training at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and a paid internship at the Royal Opera House – Covent Garden in London.
From 1990 to 1992, she was Production Director of the Mozart-Da Ponte Project of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole for the Ente Teatro Romano di Fiesole, with musical direction by baritone Claudio Desderi. She also oversaw the organisation of tours in Italy and abroad.
From 1989 to 2000, she was responsible for the organisation of the William Walton Foundation at Villa La Mortella in Forio d’Ischia, and from 1995 to 1998 she was Artistic Secretary at the Wexford Opera Festival, Ireland’s leading opera event dedicated to the rarer operatic repertoire.
From 1998 to 2003, she was Organisational Director of the Tempo Reale Centre in Florence, where she oversaw the production of the live electronics for Luciano Berio’s operas Outis and Cronaca del luogo.
From 1994 to 2004, she was Organisational and Administrative Director of Teatro Del Carretto, a theatre company based at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, where she oversaw all productions and their international distribution.
From 2004 to 2006, she was responsible for the research unit focusing on sound processing at Media Innovation Union, Firenze Tecnologia. She served as project manager for multimedia projects that received substantial European funding.
As part of the Progetti Culturali Firenze 2010 – later Firenze Futura – Associazione per il Piano strategico dell’area metropolitana Fiorentina, she developed cultural projects and led the consultation process with institutions and professional associations, with the aim of creating a network of knowledge linking the major Italian and international cultural institutions based in the area.
From 2009 to 2014, she was project manager of the Study abroad program, promoting educational activities in the arts and sciences for students from leading international colleges based in Florence.
From 2015 to 2022, Anna Maria Meo was General Director of the Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma and Artistic Director of the Verdi Festival. Until 2023, she was also President of Opera Europa, an association bringing together more than 200 of the leading opera houses.