Susan Salms-Moss
Encyclopedia
Susan Salms-Moss was born as Susan Leslie Moss on April 28, 1946, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Great Neck, Long Island
, New York. She made her career singing leading soprano roles throughout Europe. She has appeared in many theaters throughout Germany, as well as in Austria, France, Switzerland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
and graduated from Great Neck South High School in 1963. In 1967, she graduated from Pembroke College (Brown University)
where she majored in French Literature. Parallel to this, she studied voice and performed extensively in concerts and onstage (e.g. Polly in The Threepenny Opera). Upon graduating from Brown, Salms-Moss moved to New York City and worked as part of a research project in foreign language teaching and testing methods at the Modern Language Association, while continuing to study voice privately, especially with Else Seyfert. Conductor Laszlo Halasz, founding music director of the New York City Opera
, encouraged Salms-Moss to go to Geneva, Switzerland, and study with Maria Carpi, best known for having trained soprano Gwyneth Jones. The year of music studies at the Conservatoire de Genève convinced Salms-Moss to pursue a career in opera. In 1977, she earned a music degree at the Musikhochschule Rheinland (then called Robert-Schumann-Institut) in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she studied with Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay.
, and, having sung Chrysothemis in Elektra earlier, Elektra herself. Salms-Moss is known for her interpretation of psychologically complex roles, in particular Katerina in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
Salms-Moss is multilingual, fluent or with a working knowledge of English, German, French, Italian and Russian. Her original studies of and interest in languages and literature, as well as psychology, led her to delve deeply into the figures she embodies. Her concert programs include works in several languages and styles, in particular the French and Russian repertoire.
Parallel to her singing career, she works as a translator of German texts, including a number of published full-length books.
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York. She made her career singing leading soprano roles throughout Europe. She has appeared in many theaters throughout Germany, as well as in Austria, France, Switzerland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
Education
Salms-Moss grew up on Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
and graduated from Great Neck South High School in 1963. In 1967, she graduated from Pembroke College (Brown University)
Pembroke College (Brown University)
Pembroke College in Brown University was the coordinate women's college for Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1891 and closed in 1971.-Founding and early history:...
where she majored in French Literature. Parallel to this, she studied voice and performed extensively in concerts and onstage (e.g. Polly in The Threepenny Opera). Upon graduating from Brown, Salms-Moss moved to New York City and worked as part of a research project in foreign language teaching and testing methods at the Modern Language Association, while continuing to study voice privately, especially with Else Seyfert. Conductor Laszlo Halasz, founding music director of the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, encouraged Salms-Moss to go to Geneva, Switzerland, and study with Maria Carpi, best known for having trained soprano Gwyneth Jones. The year of music studies at the Conservatoire de Genève convinced Salms-Moss to pursue a career in opera. In 1977, she earned a music degree at the Musikhochschule Rheinland (then called Robert-Schumann-Institut) in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she studied with Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay.
Career
Salms-Moss made her professional opera debut only a few months later, as the leading soprano at the Städtische Bühnen in Münster, Germany, singing the role of Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. Her career took her to numerous theaters in Germany in the following years, during which she amassed an extensive repertoire. Early roles included Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème, Marguerite in Faust, and Mozart roles such as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Her voice combines a dark timbre with an extended range and flexibility, making it ideal for Bellini's Norma and Abigaille in Verdi's Nabucco. Developing into the "spinto" and later the "dramatic" repertoire, she sang most of the Verdi heroines, such as Aida, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Desdemona in Otello, Leonora in La Forza del Destino, and Alice in Falstaff, as well as Puccini's Tosca and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro. She has embodied all three Janáček heroines, Katya Kabanova, Jenufa, and Emilia Marty in The Makropoulos Case. Ventures into modern repertoire included Fevronia in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck, and Die Dame in Hindemith's Cardillac. Rare departures into traditionally mezzo soprano repertoire were Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and Judith Weir's Blond Eckbert. Lighter pieces included classical operettas, especially Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music in Innsbruck in its first Austrian production. She performed the major works of Richard Strauss, such as Salome, the Feldmarschallin in Der RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, and, having sung Chrysothemis in Elektra earlier, Elektra herself. Salms-Moss is known for her interpretation of psychologically complex roles, in particular Katerina in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
Salms-Moss is multilingual, fluent or with a working knowledge of English, German, French, Italian and Russian. Her original studies of and interest in languages and literature, as well as psychology, led her to delve deeply into the figures she embodies. Her concert programs include works in several languages and styles, in particular the French and Russian repertoire.
Parallel to her singing career, she works as a translator of German texts, including a number of published full-length books.
External links
- http://www.Brown.edu/ Brown University
- http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/ Brown Alumni Magazine
- http://www.liegnermanagement.com/moss.htm Biography