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The English soprano, Susan Bullock, is a graduate of the Royal Holloway College London University, The Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. Her enormous potential was recognised early in her career when she was awarded First Prize in the restigious Kathleen Ferrier Award in 1984. She was immediately offered the opportunity to sing principal roles with English National Opera.
At the same time Susan Bullock began to make regular appearances with the BBC and all the other major British orchestras. It was as Janacek's tragic heroine, Jenufa, that she made an acclaimed debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera leading to outstanding appearances with the company as Katya Kabonova and as Lissa (The Queen of Spades) in Graham Vick's production. During the 1996-1997 season she made her American operatic debut as Madam Butterfly with Portland Opera, a role she repeated with English National Opera. Later she sang in Otello with English National Opera following her visit to Prague to sing Paul Hindemith with the Prague Philharmonic Orchesta. In 1998 she perfomred Madam Butterfly in Houston, Tosca in Portland (USA). She sang the leading role in Menotti's The Consul in a performance at the Spoleto Festival conducted by the composer and won the Pegasus Award for Outstanding Artist at the Festival. 1999 began with a live BBC radio broadcast from the Barbican during the Messiaen weekend festival with a stunning performance of Harawi.
Susan Bullock is one of today’s leading dramatic sopranos, and since her outstanding and acclaimed performances as Isolde for Opera North and English National Opera she has rapidly established herself as Britain’s leading Wagnerian soprano. In recent seasons she performed Brünnhilde (Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung) at Tokyo New National Theatre, Brünnhilde (Götterdämmerung) at Perth International Festival, and Isolde at Rouen, Frankfurt and Verona. She made her La Scala debut in 2004-2005 season as Elektra and sang the same role at Frankfurt, Dresden and Rouen. Other recent roles include Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) for Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatro de la Maestranza; Lady Macbeth (Bloch’s Macbeth) in Vienna; Schrecker’s Der Schatzgräber with Oper Frankfurt; and Ellen Orford in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes for English National Opera and the Royal Danish Opera.
In 2005-2006 season Susan Bullock makes her debut at Covent Garden as Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck under Daniel Harding and Elektra at Stuttgart Opera. In concert she sings Elektra with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart; Salome with Opera North under Richard Farnes; and Arnold Schoenberg’s Erwartung with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson.
Susan Bullock’s concert work has been vast and diverse, and has recently included her debut in concert performances of Salome with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart; the Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, London; and Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi in her BBC Proms debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov. She made her official Wigmore Hall recital debut with pianist Malcolm Martineau in 2004-2005.
Discography includes: Genièvre (Chausson’s Le roi Arthus) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein for Telarc; and Lady Billows (Albert Herring) with the City of London Sinfonia under Richard Hickox, Paul Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier, and Magda (Menotti’s The Consul) with the Spoletto Festival Orchestra under Richard Hickox, all for Chandos. |
