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, classical theatre and contemporary drama. 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, has been featured as the Musical America New Artist of the Month and was the subject of an portrait in Opernwelt. 

Her opera productions include Rinaldo (Glimmerglass Festival), 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, 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: 

Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Oper Halle - January 2024

Rusalka - Theater Regensburg - April 2024

Amadigi di Gaula - Oper Halle & Händelfestspiele - May 2024

Gypsy - Oper Halle - November 2024

Sor Juana - Met Live Arts, NYC - January 2025

Rinaldo - Detroit Opera - February 2025

Sor Juana - Mexico City - April 2025

Tosca - Glimmerglass Festival - July 2025

Unannounced World Premiere - Aalto Theater Essen - Spring 2026