Susanna Phillips, Soprano

Soprano Susanna Phillips continues to establish herself as one of today’s most sought-after musician. Ms. Phillips’ 2023/24 Season includes engagements with Music of the Baroque, Musica Sacra, Oratorio Society of New York, Boston Baroque, and Houston Symphony.

Career highlights include The Metropolitan Opera singing numerous roles with her recent role debut at Mimì/La bohème. Ms. Phillips’ is also praised for her portrayal of Musetta/ La bohème, Pamina/The Magic Flute, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Antonia and Stella/The Tales of Hoffmann, Micaëla/Carmen, and Countess Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro – a role very close to her heart. Ms. Phillips received great applause for singing Fiordigili/Così fan tutte, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night”, and Clémence in The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin. Ms. Phillips has sung two premieres, Rose/Awakenings at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Brahms’ A German Requiem with the Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall. Previously, she has performed the role of Stella in a concert staging of Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Renée Fleming and also has sung Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Teddy Abrams. Ms. Phillips has also sung leading roles with Boston Baroque including Cleopatra/Giulio Cesare and the title role in Agrippina. Other opera house appearances include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, Dallas Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu, and Oper Frankfurt.

Dedicated to symphonic works, Ms. Phillips has collaborated with highly esteemed orchestras including The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and her native Huntsville Symphony. Some credits include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second and Fourth Symphonies, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Fauré and Mozart Requiems, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. An avid chamber music collaborator, Ms. Phillips has performed a tribute concert to Clara Schumann at the Library of Congress and has sung alongside Eric Owens for Washington Performing Arts in a program co-curated by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Prestigious awards include some of the world’s leading vocal competitions: The Metropolitan’s Beverly Sills Artist Award (2010), Operalia (First Place and the Audience Prize), The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the MacAllister Awards, and the George London Foundation Awards Competition. She has also claimed the top honor at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and has won first prizes from the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. Ms. Phillips has received grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation, and is a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. She holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, over 400 people traveled from Ms. Phillips’ hometown to New York City in December 2008 for her Met Opera debut in La bohème. She returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances.