Susan Graham

Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Susan Graham sings the Composer in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at HGO this spring. She was last heard at HGO in the title role of Handel’s Xerxes, and made her Houston Grand Opera debut in 2002 in the title role of Handel’s Ariodante, a role she reprised to great acclaim in San Francisco in 2008. Her other HGO credits include Poppea in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea (2006), Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo (2005) and Hanna Glawari in Lehár’s The Merry Widow (2003). The Texas native was given the title Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005. A Grammy award–winning recording artist, she was named “America’s Favorite Mezzo” by Gramophone magazine. Her complete opera recordings range from Handel’s Alcina and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride to Barber’s Vanessa and Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. She has recently performed the title role of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera), Octavian in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (Metropolitan Opera) and Marguérite in Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust (Lyric Opera of Chicago). Ms. Graham has also sung Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust (Philadelphia Orchestra), Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer (New York Philharmonic) and Mahler’s Rückert-Leider (San Francisco Symphony), which was recorded for upcoming CD release.