SUSANNE MENTZER
Professor of Voice

1118 Alice Pratt Brown Hall 713-348-2835 susanne.m.mentzer@rice.edu

SUSANNE MENTZER joined the Shepherd School of Music in 2006 as Professor of Voice after 6 years at DePaul University in Chicago and on the faculty of Aspen Music Festival and School. She regularly adjudicates competitions for Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, The George London Foundation, The Schubert Club (St. Paul), Chicago Area National Association of Teachers of Singing, W.M. Sullivan Foundation.

Ms. Mentzer’s current and former students have gone on to the Academy of Vocal Arts, The Juilliard School, The Minnesota Opera Studio, Aspen Opera Theater Center, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Young Artists, Chicago Opera Theater Young Artists and more.

Susanne is one of today’s foremost mezzo-sopranos and continues to actively perform. She is widely admired for her acting and as a specialist in trouser roles, most notably for her portrayals of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos as well as many female roles. Operatically she specializes in music Mozart, Berlioz and R. Strauss. 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 as a proponent of women’s music. She has been a guest artist at the Metropolitan Opera in leading roles since 1989, appearing on four PBS telecasts.

During the 07-08 season she will appear at the Santa Fe Opera as Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, a role which she reprises at the Florida Grand Opera in Miami. Her concert work takes her to the Music from Angel Fire chamber music festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, The National Symphony, Canadian National Arts Center for Berlioz La Mort de Cléopatre and concerts in Houston: Mahler Rückertlieder with the symphony, a program of song with the Houston DaCamera and a faculty chamber concert at Rice in late March.

During the past season at the Metropolitan Opera she created the role of the Mother/ Empress in the world premiere of Tan Dun's The First Emperor, (a role she reprises in May ‘08) and appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Lincoln Center, the St. Louis and Dallas Symphony Orchestras.

Ms. Mentzer has been fortunate to have appeared on four continents at nearly every great opera house and orchestra under the batons of R. Abbado, Bonynge, Boulez, Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Andrew Davis, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Haitink, Levine, Maazel, Mackerras, Marriner, Masur, Mehta, Muti, Ozawa,Salonen, Sawallisch, Sinopoli, among others. She also has appeared in many productions of the late director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, whom she considers one of her great influences, and with the late Giorgio Strehler at La Scala.

An established recitalist Ms. Mentzer has premiered two song cycles by Libby Larsen and a monodrama by Carlisle Floyd. Her extensive discography includes 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 her long-time 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. She also received a grammy nomination for her work in Busoni's Arlecchino. She appears on DVDs of Les Contes d ‘Hoffmann (Opéra de Paris), Don Giovanni(La Scala), and The First Emperor (Metropolitan Opera).

Ms. Mentzer has her Bachelor and Master degrees from The Juilliard School and was trained in the Houston Opera Studio. She studied with Rose Bampton and Norma Newton. She serves on the Board of Trustees of The Sullivan Foundation in New York and Alexian Brothers Bonaventure House. She received the Alexian Brothers, USA. Thelan Award for her involvement raising money through gala concerts for the AIDS cause in Chicago.