Biography

British-Austrian-American Mezzo-Soprano Louisa Stuart-Smith is a Samling Artist, a Neue Stimmen Finalist (2026), an Edinburgh International Festival Rising Star of Voice (2026), a Garsington Opera Alvarez Emerging Artist (2025), an Opera Prelude Artist (2027) and a Josephine Baker Trust Artist. Last season, she made her Royal Ballet and Opera debut singing in Handel’s Giustino in the Linbury Theatre; she covered three roles in Tales of Love and Loss at the Royal Ballet and Opera (Olga in Four Sisters, Maid in Making Arrangements and Chorus in The Departure); and she sang the role of Dorabella in Longhope Opera’s Così Fan Tutte. Upcoming, she will sing as a Semi-Finalist in Hurn Court Opera’s 2026 Singer of the Year Competition.

Louisa covered the role of Dorabella in Teatro Lorenzo Da Ponte’s production of Cosí Fan Tutte in Italy (2024). She has performed the title roles in Serse (2022), Rinaldo (2021) and Giulio Cesare in Egitto (2019) and the roles of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (2021), L’Architecture in Les Arts Florissants (2019), La Damigella in La Liberazione di Ruggiero (2020) and Papagena in The Magic Flute (2016). In GSMD Opera Scenes, Louisa has sung Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia, Dorabella in Cosí Fan Tutte, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito, Irene in Tamerlano, Mab in La Jolie Fille de Perth and Nunzia in La Liberazione di Ruggiero. Operetta and acting roles have included Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore (Minack Theatre, 2021), Tessa in The Gondoliers (2022), Peep-Bo in The Mikado (2019), Joan in Saint Joan (ADC Theatre 2019), Mother in Machinal (2019), and Voltore in Volpone (2019), as well as performing in comedy sketch shows with the Cambridge Footlights. Musical theatre roles include Sally Bowles in Cabaret (2018), Ado Annie in Oklahoma! (2017) and Eponine in Les Miserables (2015).

Her recent concert work as a soloist includes performances with the London Mozart Players and Orpheus Sinfonia; Baroque recitals with the Carnegie Ensemble from the BBC Symphony Orchestra; and art song performed with James Baillieu and Louise Alder at the Edinburgh International Festival and with Roderick Williams at 22 Mansfield Street. Louisa has performed as the Mezzo-Soprano Soloist in numerous oratorios, including, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Handel’s Messiah, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Haydn’s Paukenmesse and Dhondy’s The Conference of the Birds.

Competition successes include Finalist in the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition (2026); First Prize in the Chris Treglown Foundation Awards (2025); a runner-up prize (Encouragement Award) in the Maryland District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition (2024); Audience Prize Winner in the Chartered Surveyors’ Vocal Competition (2024); Runner-Up in the Final of the London Bach Society’s Bach Singers Prize Competition (2024); and Semi-Finalist in the Cesti Baroque Singing Competition at the Innsbruck Festwochen der Alten Musik, the VIII Concurs Internacional de Cant Josep Palet in Barcelona and the Royal Overseas League Competition.

Louisa studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for the MPerf and Artist Diploma in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Professor Yvonne Kenny. Louisa is grateful to have been a Sidney Perry Foundation Scholar, a Guildhall School Trust Scholar and generously supported by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors.

As a child, Louisa performed as the ‘Choir Boy soloist’ in Marin Alsop’s production of Bernstein’s Mass (2010, Royal Festival Hall). She sang in the Children’s Chorus in Carmen (2015, ENO), Der Rosenkavalier (2012, ENO), Turandot (2009, ENO), Hansel und Gretel (2009, Opera Holland Park) and La Bohème (2008, ENO).

In addition to her career as an opera singer, Louisa holds BA and MPhil degrees in History of Art from Trinity College, Cambridge, where she was a choral scholar. She is also a keen runner and a linguist.