Susan Bullock
Soprano
Susan Bullock is one of the world’s most sought-after dramatic sopranos. In recent seasons she has appeared as Wagner’s Brünnhilde at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos Lisbon, Oper Frankfurt, Opéra de Lyon, the New National Theatre Tokyo, and with the Canadian Opera Company. She has also performed the role of Isolde in London, Frankfurt, Verona and Rouen.
Appearances as Richard Strauss’s Elektra have brought Susan Bullock substantial international acclaim and collaborations with some of the world’s leading conductors including Fabio Luisi, Semyon Bychkov, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Mark Elder and Edo de Waart; and debuts with The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Washington National Opera and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. She received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s award in 2009 for her performances of the role at the Royal Opera House. She returned to the Royal Opera House last season in a new production of Gloriana to celebrate the Britten centenary.
Current season highlights include Der Ring des Nibelungen for Opera Australia in Neil Armfield’s new production conducted by Pietari Inkinen, performances of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung for Deutsche Oper Berlin under Donald Runnicles, and she adds Owen Wingrave to her repertoire with performances at the Aldeburgh Festival. She gives recitals with Malcolm Martineau at the Melbourne Recital Centre and at the Sydney Opera House.
Susan Bullock’s vast and diverse concert work has included the Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and also with Zubin Mehta and the Orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper. Most recently she has performed Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle and she appeared as both Isolde and Brünnhilde with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis on the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth. Popular appearances have included the Last Night of the Proms 2011 and a special appearance at the London 2012 Olympic closing ceremony.
Her substantial discography includes the title role in Salome with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras, Albert Herring with the City of London Sinfonia under Richard Hickox, and the role of Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra under Hickox – all for Chandos. Her recital disc with Malcolm Martineau (which includes Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Prokofiev’s Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova) was listed as BBC Music Choice in BBC Music Magazine.