Susan Larson
Encyclopedia
Susan Larson is an American soprano
opera
singer. Larson was born in New Rochelle, New York
and she graduated with a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University in 1965. She received a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory in 1969.
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer. Larson was born in New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...
and she graduated with a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University in 1965. She received a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory in 1969.
Career highlights
- Charter member, Emmanuel MusicEmmanuel MusicEmmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended, an endeavor twice completed...
, Boston - Appearances with Santa Fe Chamber Music FestivalSanta Fe Chamber Music FestivalThe Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival is a six week long summer Festival of chamber music held annually in July and August and located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was founded in 1972 and presented its first series of concerts in 1973. Well-known musicians and young performers appear each season in...
, Ravinia, St. Louis and Bethlemehm Bach Festivals, Monadnock Music Festival, Pepsico SummerFare Festival, Theater der Welt Festival - Member, Liederkreis Quartet (Naumburg Foundation Award for chamber music, 1979)
- Peter SellarsPeter SellarsPeter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...
production of Mozart's Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Manchester NH 1980, role of Donna Elvira - Peter Sellars production of Handel's SaulSaul (Handel)Saul is an oratorio in three acts written by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Charles Jennens. Taken from the 1st Book of Samuel, the story of Saul focuses on the first king of Israel’s relationship with his eventual successor, David; one which turns from admiration to envy and hatred,...
, 1981, role of Michal - American Repertory Theater, Handel's OrlandoOrlando (opera)Orlando is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel written for the Royal Academy of Music . The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's L'Orlando after Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which was also the source of Handel's operas Alcina and...
, 1982, role of Dorinda - American Repertory Theater, Rodgers & Hart's The Boys from SyracuseThe Boys from SyracuseThe Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical...
, 1983 (Best Actress in a Musical, Boston Theatre Critics Circle) - Theater der Welt prize awarded for Sellars' production of Così fan tutteCosì fan tutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
1989 - Opera Company of BostonOpera Company of BostonThe Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
, Robert DiDomenica's "The BalconyThe BalconyThe Balcony is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. Since Peter Zadek directed its first production at the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1957, the play has attracted many of the greatest directors of the 20th century, including Peter Brook, Erwin Piscator, Roger Blin, Giorgio Strehler, and...
," (role of Carmen) in Boston and at the Bolsoi in Moscow
Recordings
- London Records CDs of Così fan tutte (as Fiordiligi), Le nozze di Figaro (as Cherubino), and Giulio Cesare in Egitto as Cleopatra
- Liebeslieder Waltzer (Brahms) with Liederkreis Quartet, "A Samuel Chapter" (John Harbison)
- Emmanuel MusicEmmanuel MusicEmmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended, an endeavor twice completed...
, Schütz motets
Premiere performances
- "Mirabai Songs" (John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
) - "On This Most Voluptuous Night" (Yehudi WynerYehudi WynerYehudi Wyner is an American composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator.Wyner, who grew up in New York City, was raised in a musical family. His father, Lazar Weiner, was an eminent composer of Yiddish art songs. Wyner attended Juilliard, Yale, and Harvard...
) - Carmen, in Robert DiDomenica's operatic adaptation of Jean GenetJean GenetJean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's The BalconyThe BalconyThe Balcony is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. Since Peter Zadek directed its first production at the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1957, the play has attracted many of the greatest directors of the 20th century, including Peter Brook, Erwin Piscator, Roger Blin, Giorgio Strehler, and...
, with the Opera Company of BostonOpera Company of BostonThe Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
(1990).
Filmography
- Le nozze di Figaro (1990) (TV) Cherubino
- Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1990) (TV) Cleopatra
- Così fan tutte (1990) (TV) Fiordiligi
Sources
- Dyer, Richard. "Susan Larson A Bewitching Contradiction". Boston Globe, February 5, 1987
- Oestreich, James. "Jean Genet's 'Balcony' Makes Debut as Opera". New York Times, June 17, 1990