Louise Alder

Alder’s 2025–26 season highlights include her highly anticipated performance as the star soprano soloist at the Last Night of the BBC Proms, becoming the first British soprano to perform at the event in over a decade. She also makes her house and role debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Zdenka in Arabella and returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Susanna in David McVicar’s production of Le nozze di Figaro.

On the concert platform, Alder’s many highlights include Mozart’s Requiem with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro in concert at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle; Brahms’ Requiem with the Fondazione Lirico Sinfonica Petruzzelli e Teatri di Bari; Mozart arias with the Royal Northern Sinfonia; Haydn’s Paukenmesse with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Romilda in Serse with the Academy of Ancient Music and Laurence Cummings; Baroque arias at the Bayerische Staatsoper for their Festspiele Barockkonzert; and recitals with Joseph Middleton at Garsington and Leeds Lieder.

Last season, Alder made several anticipated role debuts, including her debut as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Wiener Staatsoper; Micaëla in Carmen at San Francisco Opera; and her first Contessa in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro at Glyndebourne, as well as returning to the role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

On the concert platform, she performed Strauss’ Vier Lieder, Op. 27, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; a concert of Mozart arias at the Royal Danish Theatre; and Haydn’s The Creation with the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Handel also featured heavily last season with engagements such as Alexander’s Feast at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg; L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with Arcangelo; and a tour of Giulio Cesare with The English Concert at the Barbican and across North America, culminating at Carnegie Hall.

In recital, Alder joined forces with tenor Mauro Peter and pianist Joseph Middleton for Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, which they presented at Leeds Lieder, Wigmore Hall, and the Musikverein in Vienna.

Recent operatic successes include Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Susanna for the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and Opernhaus Zürich; Zerlina (Don Giovanni) for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Teatro Real in Madrid; Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Marzelline (Fidelio) for the Bayerische Staatsoper; Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) for the Wiener Staatsoper and the Glyndebourne Festival; Anne Truelove (The Rake’s Progress) for the Glyndebourne Festival; and Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) for Theater an der Wien and Oper Frankfurt.

In concert, highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, and his Symphony No. 4 with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Vladimir Jurowski; Haydn’s The Creation with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner; Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Jakub Hrůša; Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Kirill Petrenko; Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Ulster Orchestra and Daniele Rustioni at the BBC Proms; Mozart concert arias with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; arias by Mozart and Rossini with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; the title role in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Royal Northern Sinfonia; Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Philippe Jordan; the title role in Theodora at the BBC Proms and the Konzerthaus in Vienna with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen; the title role in Semele on tour with the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner; Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Messiah with the New York Philharmonic and Harry Bicket; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tokyo Philharmonic; and Mozart arias at the Salzburg Mozartwoche with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding.

A hugely acclaimed recitalist, her appearances include the BBC Proms; the Musikverein in Graz; Madrid’s Fundación Juan March and Fundación Privada Victoria de los Ángeles in Barcelona; Snape Maltings; the Oxford International Song Festival; and performances in Schwarzenberg, Vienna, Helsinki, and Stockholm, as well as a recent season-long residency at London’s Wigmore Hall.

Her extensive discography includes Chère Nuit: French Songs, featuring works from Ravel to Yvain (Chandos); The Russian Connection, featuring songs by Rachmaninov, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Medtner, and Britten (Chandos); a disc of Strauss Lieder, Through Life and Love (Orchid Classics) with pianist Joseph Middleton; Theodora (title role, Arcangelo/Alpha Classics); Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia, Opus Arte/Glyndebourne); and Silandra in Cesti’s L’Orontea (OEHMS Classics/Oper Frankfurt).

A former member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt, Alder studied at the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School, where she was the inaugural Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar. She is the winner of the Young Singer Award at the 2017 International Opera Awards, the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, the 2015 inaugural Young British Soloists’ Competition, and the recipient of Glyndebourne’s 2014 John Christie Award.