Susan Dunn

Australian Soprano, Susan Lorette Dunn studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, Queensland, graduating with both a Bachelor of Music Degree and a Graduate Diploma Degree of Opera. Miss Dunn has performed regularly with both Opera Australia and Opera Queensland. Roles in her repertoire include Tzietel - Fiddler On The Roof, Frasquita – Carmen, Mabel- Pirates of Penzance Lola-Cavalleria Rusticana, Dorabella-Cosi Fan Tutte, Dido-Dido and Aeneas, Earth-The Eighth Wonder, Musetta-La Boheme, Valencienne-The Merry Widow, Mlle Dangeville-Adriana Lecouvreur,Stephano-Romeo and Juliet, Cornelia- Damascus,Laetitia -The Old Maid and the Thief, Lucy-The Beggars Opera, Catherine-Seeking True South, and The Water Nymph-The Golden Axe.

Miss Dunn has performed and recorded as soloist with ABC Australia and with many of Australia’s major orchestras. Since moving to the USA in 2002 Miss Dunn has sung concert performances with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic, Charlotte Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, El Paso Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Spokane Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, Camerata of San Antonio, and the Martinu Philharmonic in the Czech Republic. Miss Dunn has performed regularly as a soloist in many of America’s major summer music festivals including the Grand Teton Music Festival, Connecticut’s Summer Music Festival, Interlochen Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, Cactus Pear Music Festival, the Chautauqua Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival and the International Conductor’s Workshop in the Czech Republic. Miss Dunn has premiered Australian vocal works in concert both nationally and internationally, and has recorded Australian composition for EMI/ Jade. Composers -David Heuser, Betty Beath, Stephen Lalor, David Hush and Paul Keelan have written for her.

Miss Dunn has won many major Australian singing competitions including the State and Commonwealth Finals of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition, an Opera Foundation Scholarship for study in Israel, an Australia Council Grant for study in the UK, an Arts Queensland Personal Development Grant, and in 2000, a prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship where she worked with the New York Festival of Song in New York City. As a result of her Churchill Fellowship, Miss Dunn performs a series of concerts at The Shepherd School of Music, dedicated to the revitalization and re-invention of the song recital. Concerts in this series include ‘A Little Bit In Love’,’Dream With Me’, ‘The Golden Age of Operetta’, and this year, ‘An International Café’ (Melbourne, Australia), and ‘Musical Chameleons’.

Miss Dunn’s other international performances include the British premiere of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene in London’s West End, a tour of Pirates of Penzance – The Ballet, an American Music Theatre Gala in Tel – Aviv, Israel and Bernstein on Broadway for Leonard Bernstein – An 80th Anniversary Celebration. Miss Dunn has performed major roles throughout Australia in Musical Theatre, which include Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, Aspects of Love (The Really Useful Company), Baby (Queensland Theatre Company), Nunsense II (Mixed Company), Lucky Me (Tropic Line Theatre Company), Into The Woods (Opera Australia), A Little Night Music (Sydney Theatre Company)and Kiss Me Kate (Andrew McKinnon Concert Productions) where she was also featured as a dancer. Additionally, Miss Dunn has both produced and performed as a soloist in concert performances of Aspects of Romance, Broadway Showstoppers, No Tune like a Show Tune and LeadingLadies. She has also produced and performed in Bernstein on Broadway, a show she conceived for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Susan Lorette Dunn has been instrumental as an educator as well as maintaining her full-time performing career. In Brisbane, Australia she held positions as Lecturer at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and the Queensland University of Technology, where she also devised programs in music theatre skills. Since 2002, Miss Dunn has had the title of Artist Teacher of Voice within the Voice and Opera Faculty of the prestigious Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. Miss Dunn has also served on the faculty of the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, The Brevard Music Festival, The Sarasota Music Festival, and The International Conducting Workshop and Festival, Czech Republic. She has taught master classes at the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, and The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Australia. She recently created The St. Francis School of Music: A Co-curricular Vocal and Instrumental Program, for St. Francis Episcopal Day School, in Houston, Texas.

Susan Lorette Dunn currently lives in Houston with her husband, conductor, Larry Rachleff, and son, Sammy.