Susan Foster
Soprano
Soprano Susan Foster is "perfectly cast" and "brings power and presence" to the title role of Puccini's Turandot. Critically acclaimed as "a Turandot rarely revealed", her 2012 Helpmann Award-nominated performance with Opera Australia was recently released on DVD, and she will begin her 2013/14 season revisiting the role with Hawaii Opera Theater.
The 2012/13 season saw her return to both Berliner Staatsoper and Teatro alla Scala, as well as her debuts with the Bayerische Staatsoper and BBC Proms, as Helmwige in Die Walküre – a role she has also sung with Berliner Philharmoniker and Los Angeles Opera. Recent engagements include Turandot with San Francisco Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival and Greek National Opera, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with Los Angeles Opera and Russia's Stars of the White Nights Festival, Sieglinde in Die Walküre in concert with Festspiel Baden-Baden, and Leonore in Fidelio with Opera Roanoke. As a highly sought after cover artist, Susan has served as Brünnhilde for San Francisco Opera's full Ring Cycle, Isolde for The Metropolitan Opera and Teatro alla Scala, as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre for Teatro alla Scala and Los Angeles Opera, and as Turandot for The Metropolitan Opera.
Hailed for her thrilling, emotionally compelling performances in many of opera's greatest soprano roles, Susan Foster has also appeared as the title characters in both Tosca and Norma, as Leonora in Il trovatore, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, as Mozart's heroines Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, and Countess Almaviva, and as the soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem. Among the conductors she has been honored to work with are Daniel Barenboim, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Steven White and Giuseppe Finzi. She has performed with such companies as Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Florida Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, New York City Opera and Chautauqua Opera, in addition to appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and West Virginia Symphony.
Ms. Foster received a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University and 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 Turandot and The Prompter in Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Opera.