Originally from the former Democratic Republic of Germany, Angela Brandt studied musicology at Berlin Humboldt University and stage direction at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory, also in Berlin. After university she was engaged as a dramatic advisor at the theatre of Chemnitz, where she soon acquired a reputation leading to a position at the Berlin Comic Opera as an assistant stage director.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Angela Brandt has divided her activities between Berlin and the outside world, notably in Vienna in 1989 in Elektra and in Paris in 1994 in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Since 2000 she has been based in Dresden where she has taught at the Carl-Maira von Weber Conservatory and played an active role in the opera world at the famous Semperoper, a cultural jewel of the town. Her forthcoming projects include stage direction for Die Rosenkavalier in Barcelona and the Damnation of Faust in Frankfurt.