Louisa Proske has established herself as a versatile, visionary director and arts leader on two continents. As a director, she brings her talent for creating vivid theatrical worlds, her raw passion and attention to detail to productions in opera and theater. She is looking forward to some major house debuts in the coming seasons, including at Opéra de Paris (Opéra Bastille), at Detroit Opera and at Aalto Musiktheater Essen.

Since the 2021/22 season, she is the Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director (stellvertretende Intendantin und Hausregisseurin) at Oper Halle, Germany. During her tenure there together with Intendant Walter Sutcliffe, the company has already won a prestigious DER FAUST Theaterpreis (Faust theater prize 2022). Louisa is also the Co-Founder and former Co-Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed NYC-based Heartbeat Opera — “an enterprise that, while small and still young, has already contributed more to opera’s vitality than most major American companies,” according to The New York Times. She is the recipient of a 2018 Princess Grace Award for directing, and was nominated as Director of the Year in the 2024 Critic‘s Poll of Opernwelt.

Her opera productions include Rinaldo (Glimmerglass Festival), Rusalka (Theater Regensburg), Amadigi di Gaula and Serse (Händelfestspiele Halle), Le Roi Arthus (BARD SummerScape), The Mother of Us All (New York Times #1 Classical Music event of 2020, historic collaboration between Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Philharmonic, Juilliard Vocal Arts), Into the Woods, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto (Oper Halle), Agrippina (Lincoln Center Debut - Carnegie Hall/ Juilliard Vocal Arts), Der Freischütz, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Daphnis & Chloé, Miss Handel (all Heartbeat Opera), La Bohème (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), Così fan tutte (LoftOpera), Falstaff (Dell’Arte Opera), Gianni Schicchi, Riders to the Sea, La Voix Humaine (Yale Opera); the world premiere of Invisible Cities at the Italian Academy New York; Anthony Braxton’s Trillium J (as Associate Director). 

Theatre productions include The White Devil (Red Bull Theater - NYTimes Critic’s Pick), peerless (nominated for a Berkshire Theatre Award for Outstanding Direction), Gaslight, This, Engagements (all Barrington Stage Company), One Day When We Were Young (Assembly, Edinburgh); Rum 'n Coca Cola in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (The Tank), Cymbeline and As You Like It at Yale School of Drama, and a European tour of Macbeth. 

Louisa has assisted Willy Decker, Harry Kupfer and Robert Woodruff. Louisa’s translation of Fassbinder's film script In a Year with 13 Moons was presented at Yale Repertory Theatre, directed by Robert Woodruff and featuring Bill Camp. Louisa holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from Yale School of Drama, and a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University, UK. 

Louisa is represented by Guy Barzilay at Barzilay Artists.

Upcoming directing projects: 

Amadigi di Gaula (remount) - Oper Halle - Sept 2024

Gypsy - Oper Halle - November 2024

Primero Sueño - Met Live Arts, NYC - January 2025

Rinaldo - Detroit Opera - February 2025

Tosca - Glimmerglass Festival - July 2025

Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin - Oper Halle - Spring 2026

Unannounced World Premiere - Aalto Theater Essen - Spring 2026

Unannounced Title - Opéra de Paris - Winter 2027