Susan Graham

Susan Graham was born in Roswell, New Mexico on July 23, 1960. Raised in Midland, Texas, Graham is a graduate of Texas Tech University and the Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers have included Cynthia Hoffmann and Marlena Malas. She studied the piano for 13 years.^[1] She was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions, and also a recipient of the Schwabacher Award from the Merola Program of San Francisco Opera.

Graham made her international début at Covent Garden in 1994, playing Massenet's Chérubin.^[2] She has also premièred several roles in contemporary operas, including John Harbison's The Great Gatsby (Jordan Baker), Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (Sister Helen Prejean), and Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy (Sondra Finchley).^[3]

Graham is a noted champion of the French song repertoire^[4] and of songs by contemporary American composers, including Ned Rorem and Lowell Liebermann.^[5] She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut in April 2003,^[6] and a recording of this recital was later released.

Graham sang "Bless This House" at George W. Bush's second inauguration on January 20, 2005,^[2] and Schubert's "Ave Maria" at the nationally televised funeral mass for Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts on August 29, 2009. She is a US delegate for UNESCO.^[7][8]

Her operatic roles include:

• Dominick Argento
  • The Aspern Papers (Sonia) 1990; (Tina) 2013
• Samuel Barber
  • Vanessa (Erika)^[9][10]
• Alban Berg
  • Lulu (Countess Geschwitz) Metropolitan Opera 2015
• Hector Berlioz
  • Béatrice et Bénédict (Béatrice) 1997^[11]
  • La damnation de Faust (Marguerite) La Scala, Metropolitan Opera November 2008
  • Les Troyens (Didon) Théâtre du Châtelet, (Paris); Metropolitan Opera;^[12] San Francisco Opera
• Marc Blitzstein
  • Regina (Regina Giddens) 2018
• Christoph Willibald Gluck
  • Iphigénie en Tauride (Iphigénie)^[13]
• Alexander Goehr
  • Arianna (Arianna)^[2]
• Charles Gounod
  • Roméo et Juliette (Stephano) Seattle Opera
• George Frideric Handel
  • Alcina (Ruggerio)^[14]
  • Xerxes (Serse – Title Role), San Francisco Opera
  • Ariodante Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera
• John Harbison
  • The Great Gatsby (Jordan Baker) 1999^[15]
• Jake Heggie
  • Dead Man Walking (Sister Helen Prejean)
  • Three Decembers (Madeline Mitchell), Opera San Jose^[16]
• Franz Lehár
  • The Merry Widow Hanna Glawari (the title character)^[2][17][18]
• Jules Massenet
  • Werther (Charlotte)
  • Chérubin Royal Opera House^[19]
• Claudio Monteverdi
  • L'incoronazione di Poppea (Poppea)
  • Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Minerva)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Così fan tutte (Dorabella)^[2]
  • Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) Lyric Opera of Chicago^[20]
  • Idomeneo (Idamante) Houston Grand Opera, Palais Garnier, Paris
  • La clemenza di Tito (Sesto) Opéra National de Paris and concert performances^[21]
  • Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) Metropolitan Opera
  • Lucio Silla (Cecilio), Santa Fe Opera^[22]
• Tobias Picker
  • An American Tragedy (Sondra Finchley) Metropolitan Opera world première
• Henry Purcell
  • Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress,^[2] Dido)
• Gioachino Rossini
  • Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)
• Richard Strauss
  • Ariadne auf Naxos (Composer) Metropolitan Opera,^[23] Royal Opera House,^[24] and Glyndebourne^[25]
  • Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian)^[2][26]
• Giuseppe Verdi
  • Falstaff (Meg Page)

• 2001 Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres)^[27]
• June 2005 Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters
• Musical America 2004 Vocalist of the Year
• 2004 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance, for her album Ives: Songs (The Things Our Fathers Loved; The Housatonic At Stockbridge, Etc.)
• 2005 Opera News Award
• September 5, 2006 Midland, Texas first annual "Susan Graham Day"^[28]
• May 2008, Honorary Doctorate, Manhattan School of Music

Some of the recordings have also received awards. See below.