About
Louise Bakker is a stage director across opera, theatre and musicals. She is Dutch and London-born, and studied Drama with English at Manchester University.
In Autumn 2023, she will act as Revival Director on Simon Stone's production of Innocence at Dutch National Opera. She will also direct Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni Tenorio at the Royal College of Music. In 2024 she will again revive Innocence at San Francisco Opera. She will also direct Handel's Acis & Galatea at Opera Holland Park.
Directing credits include: Lucia di Lammermoor (Brent Opera), The Rake's Progress, Jenufa, Cavalleria Rusticana & I Pagliacci (Aylesbury Opera), Orpheus in the Underworld, Opera Scenes (Royal College of Music), Saul, The Dragon of Wantley (Richmond Opera), Mozart & Salieri/Suor Angelica (Rose Opera), A Stroke of Luck (Limelight Theatre), Royal Academy of Music Opera Scenes, Shaw Goes Wilde (Pegasus Opera), Edith & Marguerite (Hen & Chickens Theatre), Assassins (Pleasance Theatre), Pravda (Bridewell Theatre), Virtue Reality (Southwark Playhouse), Waiting Room (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Iranian Nights (John Thaw Studio Theatre) and Six Degrees of Separation (Edinburgh Festival).
Her opera scenes at the Royal Academy of Music in 2020 are available to watch here.
Associate Directing credits include Jonathan Dove's Itch (Stephen Barlow/Opera Holland Park/Canadian Opera Company), Die Zauberflöte (Polly Graham/Royal College of Music) which is available to view here.
Assistant Directing credits include Così fan tutte, Tamerlano, Falstaff (The Grange Festival), Innocence, Jette Parker Young Artist Summer Performance (Royal Opera House), La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers (Vache Baroque Festival), Margot la Rouge/Le Villi, The Cunning Little Vixen, Kát’a Kabanová (Opera Holland Park), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Royal Academy of Music), The Enchanted Island (British Youth Opera), The School of Jealousy (Bampton Classical Opera), The Braille Legacy (Charing Cross Theatre), National Opera Studio Scenes (Welsh National Opera) and The Color Purple (Cadogan Hall).
She works extensively with the Royal Opera House’s Learning & Participation Department and Youth Opera Company, as well as Blackheath Halls children's choir and the Acting Gymnasium. She presents ROH's online learning materials for Drama including the videos for their Hansel & Gretel "Create & Sing" module.
Louise has considerable performing experience as an actress, singer and voiceover artist. She studied singing at Junior Guildhall, and has sung with Manchester University's Chamber Choir Ad Solem under Marcus Farnsworth, OJ Ruthven and Matthew Hamilton, and for the New London Children's Choir under Ronald Corp.
Roles include: Claudia (Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, Charing Cross Theatre 2016); Gretchen (Boeing Boeing, Bridewell Theatre 2014); Lindy (House & Garden, Bridewell Theatre 2012); Miss Julie (Miss Julie, Strindberg/McGuinness, Teatro Technis 2011); Nora (A Doll’s House, Bridewell Theatre 2011); Lorna (Cigarettes & Chocolate, Teatro Technis 2010); Noleta (Sordid Lives, Edinburgh Festival 2009); Martha (The Constant Wife, Bridewell Theatre 2009); Carol (Oleanna, Theatro Technis 2008); Marlow (She Stoops to Conquer, Landor Theatre 2007); Yvonne/Harriet Pawling, Sunday in the Park with George, Manchester University 2007); Marcia (Mouthful of Birds, Manchester University 2007); Bernada Alba (The House of Bernada Alba, Manchester University 2006); Ouisa (Six Degrees of Separation, Edinburgh Festival 2006); Charlotte (Party Time, Manchester University 2006); Marquise de Merteuil (Dangerous Liaisons, Manchester University 2006); Dana (The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Manchester University 2005 Winner: Best Actress Award); Mrs Higgins (My Fair Lady, Manchester University 2004); Flora (The Turn of the Screw, Teatro Regio, Turin, 1995)
