Katharina Thoma studied music (piano) at Musikhochschule Lübeck before she started to work as assistant director at Kassel state theatre. From 2004 to 2008, she was assistant director at Frankfurt Opera where she worked with directors such as Richard Jones, Christof Loy and Keith Warner. In 2007, she received the 2nd prize at the European Opera Competition "Camerata Nuova" and in 2008, she started to work freelanced as a director.

Since 2008, Katharina Thoma has been a teacher for acting and stage performance at Musikhochschule Mainz, where she did productions of Gianni Schicchi by Puccini and Die Zauberflöte by Mozart.

She did productions for Malmö Opera (Vanessa by Barber), Frankfurt Opera (La finta giardiniera by Mozart), Theater Nordhausen (Eugen Onegin by Tchaikowsky) and worked at the Munich Biennale (Piero - Ende der Nacht by Joneleit). She also directed Madame Butterfly at the Folkopera Stockholm and Eliogabalo by Cavalli at Dortmund Opera, where she is director in residence during the seasons 11/12 and 12/13.

Upcoming productions in Dortmund are La Bohème and Boris Godunov, in Kassel she will direct Die Zauberflöte, and in spring 2013 she is going to stage a new production at Glyndebourne festival.