Louisa Proske

Director Louisa Proske grew up in Germany and the United States. She studied literature at Cambridge University in England and directing at the Yale School of Drama in New Haven, USA. Since 2012, she has worked as a freelance opera and theater director. In 2018, she received the prestigious Princess Grace Award for directing and in 2024 was nominated for Director of the Year in the critics' poll of the opera magazine Opernwelt. Her opera productions include Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" (Tiroler Festspiele Erl), Puccini's "Tosca" (Glimmerglass Festival), Handel's "Rinaldo" (Glimmerglass Festival and Detroit Opera), Dvořák's "Rusalka" (Theater Regensburg), "Amadigi di Gaula" and "Serse" (Händelfestspiele Halle), Chausson's "Le Roi Arthus" (BARD SummerScape), Thomson's "The Mother of Us All" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Philharmonic and Juilliard Vocal Arts) and the world premiere of "Primero Sueño", which she created together with Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera. From 2021 to 2025, Proske served as deputy artistic director and resident director at the Halle Opera, where she staged works including Sondheim's "Into the Woods," Jule Styne's "Gypsy," Rossini's "The Barber of Seville," and Verdi's "Rigoletto." During her time in Halle, the ensemble won the prestigious "Der Faust" award in 2022. Proske is also the co-founder and former artistic director of Heartbeat Opera in New York City, which she co-directed with Ethan Heard from 2013 to 2021. With Heartbeat Opera, she staged works such as Handel's "Agrippina," Weber's "Der Freischütz," Mozart's "Don Giovanni," and Bizet's "Carmen." Her stage productions include John Webster's "The White Devil" at the Red Bull Theatre in New York, the world premiere of Lucy Teitler's "Engagements" at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, and Nick Payne's "One Day When We Were Young" at the Assembly Theatre in Edinburgh. She was nominated for the Berkshire Theatre Award for her production of Jiehae Park's "peerless."
In the 2025/26 season Louisa Proske will direct Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Work — LOUISA PROSKE | Director