Susanne Burgess is a British-American soprano praised for a uniquely warm vocal color, penchant for legato lyric lines, dramatic fioratura, and engaging emotional expression on stage. 

After winning First Prize at the National Opera Association's Argento Competition and the GA District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Susanne kicks off the 2021-2022 Season at The Atlanta Opera where she will perform the leading role of Mabel in Gilbert & Sullivan's classic Pirates of Penzance. She will also join the company as the cover of Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare. In March, Susanne will travel to Boheme Opera of NJ where she will debut the role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. For the Summer of 2022, Susanne will return to Des Moines Metro Opera as Helena in an all-new production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
 

For the 2020-2021 season, Susanne joined The Atlanta Opera in their innovative "Reimagine Opera" series including I Pagliacci and Kaiser von Atlantis and returned to the company the following Spring to sing Lucy Brown in Threepenny Opera and Micaela in Carmen. Susanne was named the winner of the GA District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
 

In early 2020, Susanne performed the role of Violetta Valéry in ​La Traviata, starring in 8 performances as part of the Winter USA Tour with Teatro Lirico d’Europa. She then took on the demanding role of Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly at Opera New Hampshire. Susanne was scheduled to make her role debut as Gilda in a new production of Rigoletto at Opera North and Woglinde in Das Rheingold at The Atlanta Opera before the COVID19 pandemic sadly postponed these performances. Among efforts to preserve art and opera during the pandemic, she took part in the Summer Season at Opera Theater St. Louis presenting arias and ensembles in a virtual festival which culminated in a masterclass series with internationally renowned sopranos, Patricia Racette and Nova Thomas. 

In 2019 Susanne made her debut with New York City Opera as Hannah in the World  Premiere of ​Dear Erich by Ted Rosenthal. She returned to the company in the role of Musetta in Puccini’s ​La Bohème. Later that year, she joined Teatro Grattacielo in NYC as Mimí in Leoncavallo’s ​La Bohème and​ La Principessa in Respighi’s ​La bella dormente nel bosco.

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Susanne made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2017 with the New England Symphony singing the Pie Jesu from Fauré Requiem and Soprano solos in John Trotta’s The Seven Last Words of Christ and returned to Carnegie Hall to sing the Soprano solos in Jubilate Deo and Requiem for the Living by Dan Forrest.

Earlier that year, she made her international debut as Anna in ​Le Villi and Lauretta in ​Gianni Schicchi with the Festival of the Aegean at the Megaron Mousikis in Athens and Syros Greece after joining Des Moines Metro Opera as Berta in The Barber of Seville and covering Tina in their production of Flight by Johnathan Dove.