Susan Maclean Dramatic Mezzo

The American mezzo-soprano Susan Maclean, grew up in a musical family in Sacramento, California. Her parents, professional flutists, played in many prominent American symphony orchestras. Her sister, dancer and choreographer, Karen Kleber, performed for six years on Broadway in the hit musical 42nd Street.

After graduating with a degree in Theater Arts from the University of Minnesota, Miss Maclean was accepted into the International Opera Studio in Zurich, Switzerland. Her achievements in the studio gained her a contract with the Zurich Opera house, where she sang with such conductors as Nello Santi, Nicolaus Harnencourt and Ralf Weikert. After her stay in Zurich, she sang extensively in Germany (Leipzig, Nuremberg, Bielefeld, Oldenburg, Kaiserslautern, Weimar, Dortmund, Karlsruhe, ) and other European cities (Antwerp/Belgium, Turin/Italy, Lausanne and St. Gallen/Switzerland, Linz and Salzburg/Austria) in both operatic and concert repertoire.

The last few years have seen her concentrating on Verdian and Wagnerian mezzo roles as well as roles from the French repertoire (, Dalila). In 2003, she made her debut as Didon in Berlioz' Les Troyens at the National Theater Mannheim where she is now the leading dramatic mezzo-soprano. About her Didon, Online-Musik-Magazine wrote "..she moves one to tears, unusually flexible mezzo-soprano, unusually seductive." Her current repertoire includes Brangäne, Kundry, Ortrud, Santuzza, Amneris, Eboli and Lady Macbeth.

In 2004, she sang Brangäne in a new production of in Mannheim conducted by Adam Fischer, a role she repeated with great success for the Opera Leipzig under the baton of Axel Kober. March 2007, she celebrated a triumphant debut as the Amme in ' Die Frau ohne Schatten in Mannheim, a role she will repeat this season in a gala performance at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe as well as a revival of the production in Mannheim. Another highlight of the 2007-2008 season: on March 27, she jumped in for an ailing colleague as Kundry at the Dresden.

In the fall of 2008, Susan Maclean will be joining the ensemble as the dramatic mezzo-soprano of the Opera Leipzig.

Contact: Neill Thornborrow Agency Drakestrasse 2 40545 Düsseldorf Germany +49-211-578-051 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.thornborrow-agentur.de Susan Maclean Dramatic Mezzo

Engagements since 1998:

Year Theater Roles/Work Info 2008-2010 Oper Leipzig Kostelnička, Kundry, Brangäne Riccardo Chailly - (resident contract) General Mus.Dir. / Peter Konwitschny - Principal Stage Dir. 2009 Mannheim Amme 2008 Mannheim Kostelnička Friedemann Layer, Cond. 2008 Dresden, Semperoper Kundry Peter Schneider Cond. with C.Franz, K. Rydl, F. Grundheber 2008 Staatstheater Karlsruhe Amme Gala Performance with J. Baird, F. Grundheber 2004-2008 National Theater Mannheim Eboli, Amme, Kundry, Conductors: Adam Fischer, (resident contract) Brangäne, Ortrud, Fricka, Frederic Chaslin, Axel Kober, Waltraute, Santuzza Enrico Dovico, Gabriele Ferro 2007 Theater Krefeld Amneris Mannheim Verdi Requiem 2006 Oper Leipzig Brangäne Revival of the Willy Decker prod Aschaffenburg Verdi Requiem 2004 Bielefeld Verdi Requiem Oratorienchor Mannheim Brangäne New production: Adam Fischer, cond. Kaiserslautern Carmen 2001-2004 Pfalztheater Kaiserslauter Lady Macbeth, Ortrud, Eboli, Wolfgang Quetes / Jocasta, Herodias Johannes Reitmeier, Artistic Directors 2003 Mannheim Didon Axel Kober, Cond., Sebastian Baumgarten, Stage Dir. Kaiserslautern Fruchthalle Kindertoten-Lieder Francesco Corti, Cond. 2002 Weimar Eboli Mainz Ortrud 2001 Koblenz Adalgisa Oldenburg Dulcinee (Don Quichotte) Raoul Grüneis, Cond. Brangäne Alexander Rumpf, Cond. Loh-Orchester Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Peter Stangel, Cond. Nordhausen-Sondershausen Gesellen Zemlinsky: 6 Lieder, Opus 13 2000 Kaiserslautern Amneris Francesco Corti, Cond. Peter Brenner, Stage Dir. Auntie (Peter Grimes Lior Shambadal, Cond. Oldenburg Dame Quickly Stefan Herheim, Stage Dir. Madame de la Motte Marie Antoinette (German Premiere) Claes Fellbom, Author & Stage Dir. 1999 Kaiserslautern Brangäne Lior Shambadal, Cond., Wolfgang Quetes, Stage Dir. 1998 Bielefeld Venus (Dresden)

Contact: Neil Thornborrow Agency, +49-211-578-051, [email protected] Susan Maclean Dramatic Mezzo

Important Theaters: Oper Zürich Schwetzinger Festspiele Semperoper Dresden Opernstudio Zürich Heidelberger Schloßfestspiele Oper Leipzig Theater Bielefeld Deutsche Oper am Rhein Nationaltheater Mannheim Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern RAI Orchestra, Torino deVlaamse Opera, Antwerpen Staatstheater Karlsruhe

Conductors: Stefan Lano Friedemann Layer Nikolaus Harnoncourt Francesco Corti Frederic Chaslin Nello Santi Enrico Dovico Stefan Soltesz Ralf Weikert Gabriele Ferro Rene Jacobs Ferdinand Leitner Axel Kober Adam Fischer

Stage Directors: Stefan Herheim Stephen Bernd Weikl Adolf Dresen Lawless Nicholas Joel Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Dominik Wilgenbus Peter Brenner John Dew Sebastian Baumgarten

Contact: Neil Thornborrow Agency, +49-211-578-051, [email protected]