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.

Susanne makes her Metropolitan Opera debut next season as Countess Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto, also joining The Met covering in Cherubini’s Medea. Susanne spends the summer of 2022 at Des Moines Metro Opera to debut the role of Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She kicked off 2022 with a tour-de-force performance of Mabel in Gilbert & Sullivan's classic The Pirates of Penzance, also joining the company for Handel's Giulio Cesare, covering Cleopatra. Shortly thereafter, Susanne made a role debut as Gilda in Rigoletto with Boheme Opera NJ. An accomplished performer on the Competition circuit this year, Susanne was awarded First Prize at the National Opera Association’s Argento Competition, Second Prize at Opera Mississippi’s John Alexander Competition, and Winner of the GA district in both 2021 and 2022 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

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For the 2020-2021 season, Susanne joined The Atlanta Opera in their innovative "Reimagine Opera" tent series including I Pagliacci and Kaiser von Atlantis and returned to the company the following Spring to sing Lucy Brown in The Threepenny Opera and Micaela in Carmen. 
 

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.