About me
Louise McClelland Jacobsen is a Danish-New Zealand soprano based in Copenhagen, working across opera, orchestral repertoire, chamber music and contemporary works.
She completed the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Danish Theatre (Opera House) in 2025. She made her operatic debut in Copenhagen in 2023 as 5th Maid in Strauss’ Elektra during her studies at the Opera Academy. She later appeared in roles including Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Aase (Drot og Marsk), the High Priestess (Aida), and Una Amante, Suor Genovieffa, and Lauretta in Puccini’s Il Trittico. She also sang the title role in the world premiere of Bent Sørensen’s Asle og Alida, for which Bachtrack praised her performance as “a series of stratospheric pianissimi that took one’s breath away.”
Louise completed her Master of Music with honours at the Opera Academy of the Royal Danish Theatre, studying with Professor Helene Gjerris. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where she studied with Hanna Hjort, and spent an Erasmus semester at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Professor Yvi Jänicke. Her artistic development has been further shaped by masterclasses with Anne Sofie von Otter, Bo Skovhus and Linda Watson amongst others.
Louise made her soloist debut with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in 2018 and returned in 2024 as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. In 2025 she sang the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) at Opera Hedeland and appeared with the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid under Fabio Luisi. She also made her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich in Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae and returned as Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro).
From the 2025/26 season, Louise joins the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden, where she sang Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Gerda in Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queen. Of her performance, Oper! wrote:
“Chapeau to her overall performance … a refined and demanding form of spatial sound theatre of the highest calibre.” (Oper!, 9 December 2025)
She has collaborated with orchestras and ensembles including Concerto Copenhagen, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Danish Orchestra, Theatre of Voices and the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra.
Chamber music plays a central role in Louise’s artistic life. She is a member of Trio Doré, together with hornist Lasse Mauritzen and harpist Zachary Hatcher, presenting programmes that span a wide stylistic range through their own arrangements.
Beyond her ensemble work, Louise is deeply engaged in contemporary music and is passionate about collaborating with living composers and bringing new works to life on the operatic and concert stage.
Louise is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Talent Award, the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, and the Aalborg Opera Prize (2025). In 2024 she was named Talent of the Year by DR P2. Following her first prize at the first Langgaard Competition in 2021, she released her debut album of songs by Rued Langgaard with pianist Kristian Riisager on Dacapo Records, selected as Album of the Week by DR P2 in August 2024.
Listen to B. Sørensen’s ‘Asle og Alida’, live broadcasted on DR P2 24/5 2025 (I’m singing the role of Alida):
Click here to listen to my concert with Trio Doré, where music and interview are mixed, announcing me as ‘Talent of the Year’ on DR P2
About me
Louise McClelland is a Danish/New Zealand soprano (b. 1997) and currently a member of the Young Artist Ensemble at The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.
In the summer 2023 she got her master’s degree from The Opera Academy at The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen with professor Helene Gjerris with top marks.
Louise had her musical upbringing in The Danish National Broadcasting Choirs from the age of 6.
In 2015 she was enrolled at MGK, a preparatory study for young music talents, with lector Hanna Hjort. She began her bachelor’s degree in 2017 at The Royal Danish Academy of Music with lector Hanna Hjort, and was admitted as an Erasmus exchange student at HFMT Hamburg with professor Yvi Jänicke in 2019.
Louise made her stage debut at the Royal Danish Opera as 5. Magd in Strauss’ Elektra in March 2023. In the 2023/2024 season she will sing the role of High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida and the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at The Royal Danish Opera as a member of the Young Artist Ensemble. Louise’s artistic work already embraces an enormous range. She has big success in oratorios, operas and lieder – including the latest modern vocal repertoire.
She has engaged in masterclasses and received lessons by artists such as: Anne Sofie von Otter, Vivica Genaux, Carlos Mena, Audrey Saint-Gil, Bo Skovhus and coach Helmut Deutsch.
Louise debuted as a soloist with The Danish National Symphony Orchestra in 2018, and has later worked with orchestras such as Jönköpings Sinfonietta and Concerto Copenhagen and ensemble Theatre of Voices.
She won the first Langgaard Competition with pianist Kristian Riisager in 2021. She has also won first prize at The Danish National Youth Singing Competition in 2015 and 2019.
Grants received by
