Susanne Mentzer

Susanne Mentzer (born January 21, 1957) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She is best known for singing trouser roles, such as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, Octavian in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and the composer in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as other music of Mozart, Strauss, Rossini, Berlioz and Mahler.

She created the role of the mother of Yueyang in Tan Dun's opera The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera on December 21, 2006. She has also premiered works by Libby Larsen, Daniel Brewbaker and Carlisle Floyd.

Mentzer made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of Cherubino on January 4, 1989. Further roles she has sung at the Met include Octavian, Idamante, Nicklausse in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, the composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Meg Page in Verdi's Falstaff, Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro.

She has also appeared at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, the Cologne Opera the Opéra de Paris and at the Salzburg Festival.

Through 2012, she served on the faculty of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. She previously served on the faculty of DePaul University. She currently has a private studio based in San Francisco.

Recordings Nuits d'été & La damoiselle élue (1983), Columbia CD James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09