Suzanne Shakespeare

Soprano

Australian soprano Suzanne Shakespeare holds a Postgraduate Artist Diploma in Opera from the Royal College of Music International Opera School London, as well as a Master of Music Performance in Piano (University of Melbourne, Australia) and a Licentiate of Trinity College London (Distinction) in both Voice and Piano. 

Suzanne has been the recipient of the Georgina Joshi Award for 2008-10, the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship and the Royal Over-Seas League Music Bursary (Australian Singing Competition).  She has also been supported by the Josephine Baker Trust, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and was a Recommended Artist for Making Music's Philip & Dorothy Green Award for 2009.  Suzanne was the British School at Rome Youth Music Foundation of Australia Scholar for 2008-11 and is a Samling Scholar.

Her operatic repertoire includes Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Marie (La fille du Regiment), Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni),Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Violetta (La Traviata), Esmeralda (The Bartered Bride), First Lady (The Magic Flute), Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann), Serpetta (La finta giardiniera), Controller  (Flight), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Morgana (Alcina), Musetta (La bohème), Adina (Elixir of Love), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Medora (Il Corsaro), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) and Frasquita (Carmen).

Suzanne’s appearances include Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) for Victorian Opera, Scottish Opera and Opera Australia, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Bohemia, excerpts of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Krenek's Die Nachtigall for the RCM Chamber Concert Series, Erato in Handel’s Terpsichore for the London Handel Festival, a world premiere by Dimitri Scarlato in the RCM 'Rising Stars' Chamber Concerts Series at Cadogan Hall, Donna Anna in  concert with the Camden Chamber Orchestra, the 2010 Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor for Guildford Opera. 

More recently Suzanne sang the role of “Girl” in a new work by Francisco Coll, Café Kafka, which opened in Aldeburgh and then performed in the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House and Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, Marie for Opera della Luna at Iford Arts Festival, Madame Herz in Mozart’s The Impresario, a return to Scottish Opera for The Magic Flute and Lady from the Sea (Armstrong), First Lady on tour with Opera Project, Olympia at West Green House Theatre, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for the Melbourne Bach Choir, and a concert tour with Orchestre Symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon.