Susan Graham was born in New Mexico and grew up in Texas. While still a student at the Manhattan School of Music, she was engaged for performances of Massenet’s Chérubin. After becoming a prize-winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she began her international career in 1989-90 as Annio in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Chicago Lyric Opera; in 1990 she made her debut at San Francisco Opera and in 1991 appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera – two companies with which she continues to maintain a close relationship. The mezzo-soprano began her European career at the Salzburg Festival in 1993 performing Musica in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff. Since then she has also performed at the Royal Opera House in London, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Bavarian Staatsoper, La Scala in Milan, and the Paris National Opera. In recent seasons she has appeared as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the Met; she has sung the title role of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride in Chicago, San Francisco, and London. Her repertoire also includes contemporary works, and she participated in the world premieres of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Picker’s An American Tragedy, and Harbison’s The Great Gatsby. Susan Graham is in demand as a concert and lieder singer whose repertoire extends from the baroque to 20th-century music; in the past year she gave lieder recitals in Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna, and Brussels, among other cities. Many of her recordings have garnered awards, including a Grammy for her recording of Ives songs and an ECHO Klassik Award. In 2004 Susan Graham was chosen as America’s Vocalist of the Year; in 2008 she received an honrary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.
July 2010