Susanne Mentzer

{{short description|American operatic mezzo-soprano (born 1957)}} '''Susanne Mentzer''' (born January 21, 1957) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Idamante in Mozart's ''Idomeneo'', Octavian in Richard Strauss' ''Der Rosenkavalier'' and the composer in Strauss' ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', as well as other music of Mozart, Strauss, Rossini, Berlioz and Mahler.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|title=Susanne Mentzer biography|url=http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=115&c=2|website=Imgartists.com|access-date=2010-05-23}}</ref><ref name=rice>{{cite web|title=Susanne Mentzer Faculty Bio|url=http://music.rice.edu/facultybios/mentzer.shtml|publisher=Rice University|access-date=2010-05-23}}</ref>

She created the role of the mother of Yueyang in Tan Dun's opera ''The First Emperor'' at the Metropolitan Opera on December 21, 2006.<ref name=bio/><ref name=emperor>{{cite magazine|title=The First Emperor|author=Rosenbloom, J.|magazine=Opera News|date=March 2007|volume=71|issue=9}}</ref> She has also premiered works by Libby Larsen, Daniel Brewbaker and Carlisle Floyd.<ref name=rice/>

==Biography== Mentzer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Maryland and New Mexico. She was first introduced to opera as a teenager, when she worked as an usher at the Santa Fe Opera.<ref name=bio /> She studied music therapy at the University of the Pacific and received her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Juilliard School.<ref name=bio /> She later participated in the Houston Grand Opera Studio.<ref name=bio/><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Up from Houston|author=Story, R.|url=http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=12233|magazine=Opera News|date=January 1998|volume=62|issue=8}}</ref><ref name=nick>{{cite magazine|title=The Tale of Nicklausse|author=Guinther, L.|date=February 5, 1994|magazine=Opera News|url=http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=13679|volume=58|issue=10}}</ref>

Mentzer made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of Cherubino on January 4, 1989.<ref name=met>{{cite web|title=Metropolitan Opera Database|url=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm|website=Archives.metoperafamily.org|access-date=2010-05-23}}</ref> Further roles she has sung at the Met include Octavian, Idamante, Nicklausse in Offenbach's ''Les Contes d'Hoffmann'', the composer in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', Rosina in Rossini's ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', Dorabella in Mozart's ''Così fan tutte'', Mélisande in Debussy's ''Pelléas et Mélisande'', Meg Page in Verdi's ''Falstaff'', Marcellina in ''The Marriage of Figaro''.<ref name=nick /><ref name=met /><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Season of Susanne|author=Thomason, P.|url=http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=11981|magazine=Opera News|date=November 2000|volume=65|issue=5}}</ref>

She has also appeared at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, the Cologne Opera the Opéra de Paris and at the Salzburg Festival.<ref name=bio /> Besides the roles she has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, her operatic repertoire includes Zerlina in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'', the title role of Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', Dido in Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'', Adalgisa in Bellini's ''Norma'' and Jane Seymour in Donizetti's ''Anna Bolena''.<ref name=bio/>

In addition to many audio recordings, Mentzer has appeared on television in performances of ''Le nozze di Figaro'', ''Così fan tutte'' and the ''First Emperor'' and on DVDs in performances of ''Don Giovanni'', ''Les Contes d'Hoffmann'', ''The First Emperor'' and Mahler's Resurrection Symphony.<ref name=bio/><ref name=rice/><ref name=imdb>{{IMDb name|nm0579897|Susanne Mentzer}}</ref>

Through 2012, she served on the faculty of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. She previously served on the faculty of DePaul University. She currently has a private studio based in San Francisco.<ref name=rice/> In 2016, Mentzer joined the voice faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Susanne Mentzer is the sister of fantasy writer and game designer Frank Mentzer.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1559917444051712&id=824738927569571 "Some may know my brother Frank from D and D."] by Susanne Mentzer, ''Facebook'', 2 October 2017</ref>

==Recordings== * ''Nuits d'été & La damoiselle élue'' (1983), Columbia CD * ''James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala'' (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{official|http://www.susannementzer.com/}} *[http://www.bruceduffie.com/mentzer.html Two interviews with Susanne Mentzer] by Bruce Duffie, January 5, 1987 and January 30, 1999

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mentzer, Susanne}} Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:Singers from Pennsylvania Category:Classical musicians from Pennsylvania Category:American operatic mezzo-sopranos Category:University of the Pacific (United States) alumni Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:DePaul University faculty Category:Rice University faculty Category:San Francisco Conservatory of Music faculty Category:20th-century American women opera singers Category:21st-century American women opera singers Category:21st-century American women academics Category:21st-century American academics