Matelda Cappelletti has established a reputation as one of Italy's foremost young stage directors. She has received particular attention for her imaginative approach to the current economic instability; her fresh and innovative productions on a limited budget have been widely praised.

In 1991 she was a major prize winner at the National Competition for Stage Directors run by the Laboratorio Teatrale of Alessandria. The same year she assisted Maestro Roberto Guicciardini in productions of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa. She was responsible for the revival of both works at the Teatro Comunale in Modena. Subsequently she assisted Fabio Sparvoli in Rossini's La Pietra del paragone in Modena and at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara.

From 1992-98 she was Head of Production at Teatro Verdi in Pisa where she worked with internationally acclaimed directors including Roberto Guicciardini, Micha Van Hoecke, Patrizia Gracis, Angelo Savelli, Paolo Pierazzini, Stefano Vizioli, Ivo Guerra, Franco Ripa Di Meana, Josè Carlos Plaza, being responsible for stagings and revivals of many productions such as Rossini's Cenerentola, the Mozart-Da Ponte triptych, Monteverdi's Incoronazione di Poppea and Orfeo, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, La Traviata, Falstaff, Macbeth, Donizetti's Elisir d'Amore, Bizet's Carmen, in several theatres in Italy and abroad including: Teatro Comunale di Modena; Teatro Comunale di Ferrara; Teatro Verdi di Pisa; Teatro Rendano di Cosenza; Teatro Alighieri di Ravenna; Ravenna Festival; Teatro del Giglio di Lucca; Teatro Mascagni di Livorno; Teatro Sociale di Mantova; Teatri di Reggio Emilia; San Gimignano Summer Festival; Estate Fiesolana; Scuola di Musica of Fiesole; Teatro Regio di Torino. During this period she also worked as Italian language coach for productions at the Glyndebourne and Aldeburgh Festivals.

Her productions of Rossini's five one act operas, Il Signor Bruschino, L'Occasione fa il Ladro, L'Inganno Felice, La Cambiale di Matrimonio, and La Scala di Seta, conducted by Claudio Desderi were an exceptional success and were performed in numerous theatres in Italy receiving special attention from Italian television. In 2001 the cycle was performed at the Opéra Comique in Paris at the invitation of Jérộme Savary who mounted a Rossini Festival especially. This led to productions of Mozart's Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Verdi's Falstaff and Rigoletto, Puccini's La Bohème, and of a number of less known, neglected or new operas, such as Le Jongleur de Notre Dame by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, La Dirindina by Scarlatti, Il Maestro di Cappella by Cimarosa, La Rita by Donizetti, La Serva Padrona, by Pergolesi, The telephone or L'amour à trois by Menotti, Un Segreto di Importanza by Sergio Rendine, Il Mondo alla Rovescia by Antonio Salieri, at theatres including Teatro Ariosto (Reggio Emilia), Teatro Borgatti (Cento), Lucania Opera Festival, Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, Teatro Puccini (Florence), Teatro Verdi (Pisa), Teatro Marrucino (Chieti), Teatre Principal (Palma de Mallorca), Opéra Comique (Paris).

Matelda Cappelletti was born in Florence and was educated in Italy and the USA, where her father was a Law Professor at Berkeley, Harvard and Stanford Universities. She has a degree in Modern foreign languages and literature from the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Florence, where she graduated with full marks and honours. She studied piano with Alba Maggini and singing with Suzanne Danco. Fluent in Italian, English, and French, she also speaks some very inaccurate but effective Spanish.

She lives on the hills of Fiesole, often collaborating with Maestro Claudio Desderi at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, where he holds his renowned Master Classes for opera singers.

Considered an expert in directing Mozart operas, she was invited to give a course on Mozart scenes and roles at the prestigious Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, in Aldeburgh, UK, in July 2010 .

For several years she has taught English Language and Literature in the State Secondary Education Programme for inmates at the "Sollicciano" State Prison, near Florence.

She alternates her international activity as opera director, and her commitment to teaching diction, acting, and opera direction to young singers at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole and at the Music Conservatory in Teramo.