Susan Foster
Soprano
Soprano Susan Foster has frequently been hailed by critics for her thrilling, emotionally compelling performances in many of opera's greatest soprano roles. She makes her debuts this season with Opera Australia and San Francisco Opera as the title role in Puccini's Turandot, a role she has also performed for Greek National Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival. The 2011/12 season also sees her as Helmwige in Die Walküre with Berliner Staatsoper, a role she has also sung for Los Angeles Opera and for Teatro alla Scala with Daniel Barenboim conducting. Recent engagements include Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with Los Angeles Opera, conducted by James Conlin; Isolde for the Stars of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia and as Sieglinde in Die Walküre in concert with Festspiel Baden-Baden, both conducted by Valery Gergiev; cover artist for Isolde at The Metropolitan Opera and Teatro alla Scala; Leonore in Fidelio with Opera Roanoke; and cover artist for Brünnhilde in Die Walküre for Teatro alla Scala, Los Angeles Opera, and San Francisco Opera (in their entire Ring Cycle).
Among the many roles she has performed over the course of her career are the title characters in both Tosca and Norma, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Mozart's heroines Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and as soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem. She has performed with such companies as Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Florida Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Chautauqua Opera.
Concert highlights include appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and West Virginia Symphony.
Born in Arizona and raised in Ohio, Ms. Foster received a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University and then continued her professional training as a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Florida Grand Opera Olsen Artist Award, the Washington Summer Opera Guild Award, Grand Prize of the Greater Miami Opera YPO Competition and a Shoshana Foundation Grant. Her discography includes the Prompter in Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author.