Susanne Mentzer
Introduced to opera as a teenage usher in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Susanne Mentzer has become one of today’s foremost mezzo-sopranos. A rare performer with equal vocal and acting gifts, she is widely admired as a specialist in trouser roles, most notably for her portrayals of Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Der Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos). She also specializes in the music of Mozart, Strauss, and the bel canto repertoire. Ms. Mentzer enjoys a significant concert and recital career, with a particular interest in chamber music, and is known as an interpreter of the vocal works of Mahler and a proponent of women’s music. She has appeared with the great opera companies and orchestras in North America and Europe, as well as the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and on tour to Japan with the Metropolitan Opera.
Ms. Mentzer will make several important appearances in the 2006-07 season: a nationwide broadcast on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center of Mozart’s Coronation Mass to open the 40th-anniversary season of the Mostly Mozart Festival; the title role of Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges in concert performances with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic; and the role Mother of Yue-yang in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s opera The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera. Other season highlights include performances of Berlioz’s Huit Scènes de Faust with the Saint Louis Symphony and a recital of English Renaissance songs at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Engagements of note in the 2005-06 season included performances of Ariadne auf Naxos with the Pittsburgh Opera and the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Chicago Opera Theatre. Of her Dido the Chicago Sun-Times said, “Mentzer was a charismatic Dido, unspooling Purcell's long, slow melodies in a mezzo voice subtly textured with smoke and golden fire.” Ms. Mentzer helped celebrate the 75th anniversary of the famed Riverside Church in New York with a special performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” with Neeme Järvi and an orchestra composed of principal players from the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Detroit and New Jersey Symphonies who also volunteered their services for the momentous occasion. The concert was filmed as part of a documentary on Gustav Mahler and will be released on DVD by Video Artists International, Inc. Also noteworthy were recitals in New York, Washington D.C., and Delaware.
As a respected interpreter of the music of Berlioz, Susanne Mentzer participated in the recent bicentennial celebrations with performances of Romeo et Juliette and Béatrice et Bénédict with the New York Philharmonic under the batons of Lorin Maazel and Sir Colin Davis. She also appeared as Mary in L’enfance du Christ with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and sang Les nuits d’été with three different orchestras (the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the IRIS Orchestra). In spring of 2005 she sang the role of Marguerite with Charles Dutoit in concert performances of Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with both the New York Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2003-04 season Ms. Mentzer returned to the Metropolitan Opera for her 14th consecutive season as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Known to Met audiences for her interpretation of Mozart and Strauss, Ms. Mentzer’s notable portrayals there include Der Komponist, Octavian, Cherubino, Dorabella (both shown on PBS), Idamante, Mélisande and Nicklausse.
Internationally she most recently appeared as Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Opéra de Paris (released on DVD), Idamante in Idomeneo in Dresden with Sir Colin Davis and with the Munich Philharmonic under James Levine. At the Royal Opera she sang the role of Giulietta in concert performances of Verdi's little known second opera Un Giorno di Regno and Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma. She also toured Berlioz's Les nuits d'été with the Orchestre de Paris under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach.
In demand as a recitalist, Susanne Mentzer has appeared at Lincoln Center, in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and the Kennedy Center, among others in collaboration with guitarist Sharon Isbin, pianist Leon Fleisher, the Orion and American String Quartets, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music from Angel Fire, and Chicago Chamber Musicians.
Ms. Mentzer has recorded two recitals she often performs in concert: The Eternal Feminine, a recital of music by women composers (Koch International Classics) which includes the premiere of Libby Larsen's Love After 1950 with pianist, Craig Rutenberg; and her personal favorite, Wayfaring Stranger (Erato), a collection of international folksongs arranged for voice and guitar with Grammy Award winning Sharon Isbin.
Her extensive discography also includes: the opera L'Isola Disabitata (Costanza) and the dramatic cantata Arianna a Naxos on Arabesque, two Haydn rarities; Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) with Sir Charles Mackerras for Telarc; Idomeneo with Sir Colin Davis for Philips Classics; Don Giovanni (Zerlina) with Riccardo Muti and Il barbiere di Siviglia for EMI; Donizetti's Anna Bolena (Jane Seymour) with Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge on Decca; Gounod's Faust (Siebel) with the Welsh National Opera for Teldec; Rossini's Petit Messe Solenelle and Il Turco in Italia conducted by Sir Neville Marriner on Philips; and the Grammy-nominated recording of Busoni’s Arlecchino for Virgin Classics. Susanne Mentzer appeared on PBS broadcasts Live from the Met in productions of Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Ariadne auf Naxos, and on the James Levine 25th-Anniversary Concert. She was featured as Artist of the Week on the A&E Network series Breakfast with the Arts. She can be seen on DVD in Don Giovanni from Teatro alla Scala and Les Contes d’Hoffmann from the Opéra de Paris.
In addition to her active performance career, Ms. Mentzer has an interest in the development of young singers. This season she begins her post as Professor of Voice at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and continues her distinguished tenure on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School. She frequently gives masterclasses throughout the country, has worked with young singers associated with the George London Foundation, and is a board member of the William M. Sullivan Foundation awarding study grants to young singers.
Since 1991, Susanne Mentzer has organized the annual Jubilate benefit concert featuring stars of the opera and dance world to support Chicago's Bonaventure House, a residence for people living with AIDS.
Born in Philadelphia and raised in Maryland and New Mexico Ms. Mentzer began her studies in music therapy at the University of the Pacific and later transferred to the Juilliard School where she received her Bachelor and Master degrees. She honed her craft in the Houston Grand Opera Studio and studies voice with Norma Newton.
