Directing

Susan stages productions at Hunter College as well as regional professional musical organizations. She has also directed OUTREACH OPERA throughout various middle schools in the New York City boroughs.  She has devoted herself to the ongoing evolution of acting singers with detailed work and sincerity of expression. “It is not enough to put on someone else’s clothes and speak or sing intentions.  The singer must touch the hearts of the audience which involves a life-long process that has to be approached with ever searching minds and hearts far beyond the styles or movements of a period.”

Susan gravitated to the stage early in life as a professional actress with regional theatre companies. She studied theater and acted professionally for years prior to her operatic affiliation and feels very comfortable working as a stage director. She also had the privilege of being filmed in an award-winning ten-week series with the BBC entitled Sailor, which taught her the art of acting on camera. In addition she was featured as Rosina in a television version of Il Barbierre di Seville which was honored with an Emmy nomination.

In her training at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, she had the distinct honor of studying with internationally renowned opera singer and director Itolo Tajo from whom she learned opera characterization and stage craft. She later went on to hone her skills under such directors as Leon Major, Arthur Masella, and Richard Pearlman. She spent years refining these skills on the operatic stage, which she now brings to her directing.