Susanna Phillips

Early life and education

Phillips was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Huntsville where she attended Randolph School. She received Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School where she was a student of Cynthia Hoffmann. After completing her master's degree in 2004, she became a member of Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Program for Singers.

In March 2005, she joined Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Lyric Opera of Chicago, now the Ryan Opera Center. During her tenure with the program in Chicago she sang Diana in a new Robert Carsen production of Iphigénie en Tauride opposite Susan Graham, and performed Juliette in Roméo et Juliette and Rosalind in Die Fledermaus.

Career

While at the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s LOCAA program, she participated in Santa Fe Opera's 50th Anniversary Arias Gala Concert on August 12, 2006, and sang the role of Pamina in the final two performances of the 2006 season production of The Magic Flute. Following in the 2007 season she sang the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.

She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on 15 March 2008 singing Musetta in La Bohème and has returned to The Met during numerous seasons to sing this role, as well as Pamina (2009, 2010), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2012), Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (2013, 2014), Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann (2015), and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (2014, 2015, 2016). In 2010 she won the Met's Beverly Sills Award.

Over the last decade she has held leading operatic roles at numerous companies such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Oper Frankfurt, Santa Fe Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Birmingham, Fort Worth Opera, Boston Baroque, Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, and Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan. Highly in demand by the world’s most prestigious orchestras, Phillips has appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Alan Gilbert, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), Philadelphia Orchestra, Oratorio Society of New York, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Music of the Baroque, Chicago, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Santa Fe Concert Association.

Seasonally, Susanna Phillips enjoys working in collaboration with other artists in recital and chamber music performances. Such performances have included those with Paul Neubauer and Anne-Marie Montgomery, at the Parlance Chamber Music Series with Warren Jones, the 2014 Chicago Collaborative Works Festival, the Emerson String Quartet in Thomasville, Georgia with Warren Jones and colleagues from the Metropolitan Opera, and at Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival she co-founded in her native Huntsville, Alabama. The soprano made her solo recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall with pianist Myra Huang. Phillips has also teamed with bass baritone Eric Owens in recital, which they have taken on tour in Chicago with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, at the Gilmore Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

Family Life

Susanna currently resides in New York City with her husband, notable New York lawyer David Huntington, and their children, Scarlett, Charlie, and James. She is sister to Macon Phillips. Her parents are Dr. Macon and Barbara Phillips.

Repertoire

OPERA

ORATORIO/SYMPHONIC

RECITAL/CHAMBER MUSIC

Susanna regularly collaborates with pianists and other instrumentalists for art song recitals and chamber music concerts with a variety of thematic and musical interests. For more information on current projects visit her website.

Discography and Recordings

Awards and recognition