Susanne Marsee


Susanne Marsee is an American mezzo-soprano of note, particularly acclaimed as a singing-actress.
Her principal teacher was Nadine Conner, and her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles, and advanced studies at the American Opera Center of The Juilliard School. She is of Greek, English, and French heritage.

New York City Opera

Raised in Westchester, California, Marsee was the New York City Opera's leading mezzo-soprano from 1970, when she debuted as Sara, Duchess of Nottingham, opposite Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo, and Louis Quilico, in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, with Julius Rudel conducting Tito Capobianco's production.
She proceeded to sing a great gallery of roles at the City Opera, including Siébel in Faust, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Sesto in Giulio Cesare, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Nicklausse in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia, the title role of La belle Hélène, Zaida in Il turco in Italia, Estella Drummle in the world premiere of Miss Havisham's Fire, Doña Manuela in La loca, Mariana in the world premiere of The Student from Salamanca, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Néris in the Italian version of Médée, the name part in Carmen, the title role of La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Prince Charmant in Cendrillon, Mallika in Lakmé, Bellino in Casanova's Homecoming, Adalgisa in Norma, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte, Charlotte in Werther, Valencienne in Die lustige Witwe, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, La chatte in L'enfant et les sortilèges, Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rose in the world premiere of Marilyn, and Marta in Mefistofele, as well as musical comedy.

United States

She appeared with companies in Baton Rouge, Boston, Cincinnati, Columbus, Connecticut, Fort Worth, Houston, Memphis, Michigan, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St Paul, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington DC, as well as the Friends of French Opera at Carnegie Hall, and Wolf Trap.
She sang performances of Rossini's Stabat mater for the Cincinnati May Festival and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Marriages

Susan Dowell married, first, Frederic E. Marsee, on May 23, 1964. The marriage later ended in divorce. She then married Brett Hamilton, which ended in divorce. She married Mark Weinstein in 1987.

Abroad

Abroad, she appeared at Calgary, the Canary Islands Festival, Caracas, the Cervantes Festival, Mexico City, Montreal, and the Taiwanese Opera Festival. In 1972, she made her only commercial recording, for Westminster, as Nicklausse in Les contes d'Hoffmann, opposite Sills and Treigle, conducted by Rudel.
In 1977, she made her European debut at the Spoleto Festival in Così fan tutte, and then appeared at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in Roberto Devereux, with Montserrat Caballé, Carreras, and Vicente Sardinero.

Television

Marsee was seen in a number of PBS television broadcasts: Rachel, la cubana, Roberto Devereux, Il turco in Italia, La Cenerentola, Rigoletto, A Little Night Music and Le nozze di Figaro.

Farewell

Her final appearances at the City Opera were as Mistress Bentson in Lakmé, in 1994. The following year, she sang her farewell performance, in the cameo rôle of Alisa in the Capobianco production of Lucia di Lammermoor, for the Pittsburgh Opera.
Since her retirement from the stage, Miss Marsee has concentrated on vocal pedagogy, and has held positions at Louisiana State University, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Pittsburgh CLO Academy, City Music Center of Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Catholic University of America.
In 2015, Opera Depot published her 1976 performance of Lucrezia Borgia, with Sills and Henry Price, conducted by Rudel, on Compact Discs. Later the same year, they published the 1975 Anna Bolena, with Scotto and Ramey, conducted by Rudel. In 2016, they published the Aix-en-Provence Roberto Devereux, to mark Carreras's 70th birthday.

Commercial recordings