"The mezzo's vocally impeccable, emotionally compelling performance proved that she is among the premier art-song interpreters of our day. Her rich, vibrant sound retains its warmth from top to bottom and throughout its broad dynamic range, and she draws the listener into the spirit of each song with a deep internal connection that creates distinctive characters with a minimum of outward display."

Opera News

Introduced to opera as a teenage usher at the Santa Fe Opera, Susanne Mentzer is one of today's foremost mezzo-sopranos, recognized for her generous vocal and interpretive gifts, and widely admired for her versatility from the recital and concert stage to the operatic arena.
Susanne has appeared with nearly all the major opera companies, orchestras and festivals of North and South America, Europe and Japan. For over 20 years she has sung leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera. She has  collaborated with many of the world’s great conductors and singers including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Loren Maazel, Pierre Boulez and Christoph Eschenbach, Joan Sutherland, Shirley Verrett, Placido Domingo, Natalie Dessay, Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Carol Vaness,Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade to name just a few.
Highlights of her extensive discography and videography includes:
On DVD- Les Contes d’Hoffmann  Opéra de Paris, Ariadne auf Naxos  and The First Emperor (with Placido Domingo) from the Metropolitan Opera, Don Giovanni  at La Scala; CD- Anna Bolena with the late Joan Sutherland, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Turco in Italia, Faust and Grammy nominated Busoni’s Arlecchino, and two recitals:Wayfaring Stranger with Grammy- winning guitarist Sharon Isbin and The Eternal Feminine featuring music by women composers with Craig Rutenberg, piano.
A specialist in trouser roles, most notably for her portrayals of Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) and Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) she is also noted for her bel canto style in her performances of Bellini’s Romeo in I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, Adalgisa in Norma, and Rossini’s heroines in Il Barbiere Siviglia and La Cenerentola. Her many Mozart roles include Idamante, Cherubino, Marcellina, Zerlina, Sesto, Annio, Dorabella and Despina. She sings many of the French heroines, including Mélisande in Debussy’s Pélléas et Mélisande, Massenet’s Dulcinée in Don Quixote, and both Prince Charming and Cinderella in Cendrillon.
Susanne has a special interest in new works and has premiered two song cycles by Libby Larsen -Love after 1950 and Sifting through the ruins both available on CD, Carlisle Floyd’s Citizen of Paradise - a monodrama on Emily Dickinson, New Mexico Fragments by Stephen Bachicha and works by Daniel Brewbaker. She also debuted the role of the Mother in Tan Dun’s Grammy-nominated The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera (directed by cinematic legend Zhang Yimou).
Her current and recent appearances include Berlioz L’enfance du Christ in Madrid, Beethoven Missa Solemnis in Tucson, and the role of the Beggar Woman in Sweeny Todd with Opera Theatre St Louis, San Diego Symphony, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Houston Ballet, chamber music with the Brentano String Quartet, Despina in Cosí fan tutte  in Kansas City, the role of Nell Quickly in Getty’s Plump Jack with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra Munich (recorded on the Pentatone label), Jade Boucher in Heggie’s Dean Man Walking (soon to be released by EMI) and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both with the Houston Grand Opera, and Conçepcion in Ravel’s L’heure Espagnol with the Houston Symphony. A frequent recitalist and chamber musician, she also performed Bernard Rand’s Now and Again with the renowned chamber group eighth blackbird, recitals in Houston, Aspen, Calgary , Santa Fe, Carmel Valley and songs of Alma Mahler with the Baltimore Symphony with conductor Marin Alsop.
Born in Philadelphia, raised in Maryland and New Mexico, Susanne  received her BM and MM from The Juilliard School. Her operatic training was with the Houston Opera Studio. A mentor to young singers she serves on the board of The George London Foundation and The W.M. Sullivan Foundation, is a Professor of Voice at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, and taught at DePaul University in Chicago and the Aspen Music Festival and School. She also gives master classes in conjunction with her appearances.
As an arts advocate she writes a blog for the Huffington Post online. Susanne received the Thelen Award from the Alexian Brothers her  efforts to raise over one million dollars for Bonaventure House in Chicago, a residence for homeless people with AIDS.