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SUSAN GRAHAM WILL MAKE CAREER ROLE DÉBUT AS MONTEVERDI'S POPPEA IN A STAR-STUDDED HOUSTON GRAND OPERA PRODUCTION OF L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA ON APRIL 29 READ THE PRESS RELEASE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE Lyric's 'Rosenkavalier' evokes shouts of approval By John von Rhein Tribune music critic "There's no finer Octavian in any theater today than Graham..." READ THE REVIEW New DVD and CD Releases Please check out her Performance Schedule for more details on where to find your favorite mezzo. Soon to be released in the U.S. by EMI is Susan Graham performing Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (LONDON): "Susan Graham sings Dido with controlled intensity and a richly burnished tone in this excellent new recording, conducted with exhilarating verve by Emmanuelle Haim. The casting is top-class, with Ian Bostridge a plaintive Aeneas, Camilla Tilling effervescent as Belinda and Felicity Palmer a ripe Sorceress. David Daniels is the Spirit, Paul Agnew the Sailor. A distinguished interpretation of this masterpiece." This October, Warner Classics released a live recording of Susan Graham's Carnegie Hall recital debut of April 14, 2003, for which Ms. Graham received rave reviews. At Carnegie Hall marks the first recording under her renewed contract with Warner Classics. Accompanied by pianist Malcolm Martineau, the disc features a wide musical repertoire including Brahms' Zigeunerlieder, Berg's Seven Early Songs, Debussy's Proses Lyriques, Poulenc's Apollinaire settings, Reynaldo Hahn's À Chloris and a comic piece about the travails of a mezzo-soprano specializing in trouser roles, written for her by Ben Moore and featured amongst the encores. Warner Classics is to release a second disc this season featuring Susan Graham. To be recorded in November 2003 with French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the disc will contain songs by Charles Ives and the Concord Sonata. Its release is scheduled to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer's death in 2004. Susan Graham will assume the title role of Lehar's The Merry Widow opening at New York City's Metropolitan Opera on December 22. Susan Graham, as Hanna Glawari, will be performing with Emily Pulley (Valencienne), Bo Skovhus (Danilo), Paul Groves (Camille), and James Courtney (Baron), with conductor Kirill Petrenko, and production by Tim Albery. European engagements in Ms. Graham's 2003-2004 season calendar include a concert performance of Barber's Vanessa with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London's Barbican on November 15 and a performance of Debussy's Proses Lyriques with Myung Whun Chung and the Orchestra Philarmormonique in Paris on November 21. Press surrounding Ms. Graham's 2003 Recitals: Sunday Times "Graham is in her vocal prime, and the sound she makes is gorgeously velvety. There's a bright-eyed twinkle in her suggestive nuancing of Braham's love-lorn gypsy and a rapt ecstasy in Debussy's languorous settings of his own words." Newsday "She poured out a voice like frothing cream that remained thick and iridescent even at the top of her range. Whether she was singing Brahms' gypsy songs, Debussy's atmospheric reveries or Poulenc's boulevard numbers, her voice coursed across beats and syllables, giving the music a liquid grace. She channeled that flow with extraordinary technique. Her intonation was exact, her volume adjusted with effortless precision. She displayed gorgeousness as if she had discovered its source and controlled the tap." Financial Times "Ecstatically applauded by her fans and superbly partnered at the piano by Malcolm Martineau, she brought uncommon sensitivity and restraint to Brahms' Zigeunerleider, elegant repose to Debussy's Proses lyriques and muted nostalgia to Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder. One had to admire her sophistication, her impeccable diction, her subtle dynamic scale, her exquisite top tones." New York Times [In advance of Carnegie Hall about past recitals] "Ms. Graham showed that she had mastered this other side of the singer's art. She had everything: stage presence, technique and, most crucial, the kind of thoughtful musicianship that illuminated the connections between note and text. Also evident was the flexibility necessary to move persuasively through distinct musical worlds." The New York Times [Review] "[Susan Graham] moved easily among these styles, always with a sense of when, and in what measure, to address the music with sobriety,playfulness, subtlety or charm." The Washington Post "Susan Graham's delicious Monday night recital at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, sponsored by the Vocal Arts Society, left no doubt that she ranks among the most capable, versatile, and altogether winning mezzo-sopranos now before the public. Her voice has power, gravity and luster; her interpretations combine an openhearted, distinctly American directness of expression with a full command of Old World subtleties. How luscious and ripe French phonemes sound as they float from Graham's lips!" The Baltimore Sun "Over the past few years, the American mezzo-soprano has moved quickly into the stellar sphere with her gleaming tone, sure technique and inviting personality. There aren't really any serious limits to Graham's career - or her talent." San Francisco Chronicle "Even in a musical landscape that seems improbably overrun with great mezzo-sopranos, Susan Graham has always stood out - for the tonal luxuriance of her singing, her clear, cogent interpretations and her luminous artistic integrity." Amazon.com - Edith Eisler of Strings magazine "Susan Graham has firmly established herself as one of our leading mezzos in opera and recital. Her voice, infinitely varied, perfectly focused, and produced, has the mellow glow of burnished bronze, but at the top she narrows her vibrato to give it a brighter, more intense quality. This live recording of her Carnegie Hall concert last April combines total vocal control with the spontaneity and excitement of a performance--complete with audience reactions--and displays her stylistic versatility, her charm, expressiveness, and communicative projection to brilliant advantage." top of page |
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"As the tormented Iphigénie, Ms. Graham, her body quivering with tremulous despair, sang with rich colorings, charisma and intelligence. … She was riveting." 
"With the charismatic mezzo Susan Graham letting her hair down in the title role, the Lyric was back on track … Graham is the latest major singer to undertake the weighty lyric-mezzo role of Iphigénie, a tragic heroine once impersonated by such dramatic divas as Maria Callas, Rita Gorr and Regine Crespin. Graham put her own stamp on the part, bringing both nobility and vibrant vocal beauty to her affecting performance. She made something real of the high priestess' tragic dilemma, caught between enforced duty and her own conscience, victimized by mortals and gods alike."
"Mezzo Susan Graham … is making a specialty of the title role of Gluck's 1779 'Iphigénie en Tauride,' which she will also be singing at the San Francisco Opera and the Met. Tragedy suits her: Her Iphigénie made the most of her dark, velvety sound and passionate intensity."
"The singing was wonderfully expressive and affecting. …
The show ultimately belonged to the luscious lyric mezzo Susan Graham, who embodied the burning conflicts of the title role with laser-focused intensity and muted elegance."
"A wonderful all-American cast led by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in a performance of continuous dramatic power and musical mastery"
"The mezzo Susan Graham's molten tone and vivid acting brought to life the Greek priestess, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who has been banished to Tauris."
