Susan Stacey

Susan has worked as a professional singer, director and teacher for almost 30 years in a wide ranging and international career. Her passion for creative and imaginative music making and theatre are the core of her work.   Susan's commitment to delivering heart-felt, inovative and exciting performances is paramount - no matter whether her work takes her to professional, student or amateur arenas. 

 

Recently, Sue had to take 24 months out of her schedule due to family medical care, but is now excited to be busy again and looking forward to future productions as a director or director/designer for productions from autumn 2016 onwards.

 

Biography

Susan was a scholar at RCM London, winning the Tagore Gold Medal, also the 1997 Bayreuth Bursary for Wagner, and represented England in ‘BBC Cardiff Singer of the World’. Her repertoire includes Abigaille, Lady Macbeth, Turandot, Aida, La Gioconda, Iris, Norma, Leonore & Senta. She has sung in Cape Town (Fidelio), USA (La Gioconda - Florida Grand Opera), ENO in London - Der Rosenkavalier, and Abigaille (Nabucco), Julia (La Vestale), and in Rio de Janiero (Abigaille). She has performed title roles in Iris and Manon Lescaut (London OHP), and her principal debut at the ROH, Odabella (Attila). Also Sarka (Janacek) for Garsington in UK, and prepared the roles of Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninov) and Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle, Bartok) – both for Opera North. She returned to Opera North in 2005 to sing Abigaille (Nabucco), and has also performed her debut as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes in London as well as repeat roles including Abigaille in Nabucco. Susan has sung as a soloist at the BBC Proms (Wagner Die Walkure), numerous concerts at all the national concert venues and recorded solo discs and performances including Mahler’s 8th Symphony (Magna Pecatrix and Una Poenetentium).

 

When not performing in opera,  Sue is a busy director of performance events - specialising in the needs of amateur musical theatre, and creative work with small scale opera companies and festival events.  

 

Productions include; The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Dido and Aeneas. Albert Herring, The Rape of Lucretia, Sweeney Todd (both as a play and Sondheim Musical), West Side Story, Couples (a new musical for Capital Radio), Evita (scenes), The Dialogues of the Carmelites, Carmen, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, Titanic The Musical (vocal and performance preparation), The Consul, Carlisle Floyd's Susannah, Massent's Manon, Mozart's Ladies, Swedish Nightingale and numerous musical -theatre and opera based workshop and vocational scenes programmes. She has also designed productions including: Iolanthe, Carmen, When we were married, Bluebeard's Castle, Fiddler on the Roof, Cosi Fan Tutte,The Marriage of Figaro and The Man of la Mancha. 

 

Sue spent some years, post university, as a professional arts adminstrator with clients including The National Festival of Student Music at the South Bank and St Johns Smith Square, Buckland Bates (charites and sponsorship fundraisers), Creative Events, Tobacco Dock, The Trocadero Retail Group and the Piccadilly Rock Circus. 

 

Sue also created a large scale community musical event for Worthing in West Sussex , when she presented the first performances of a chamber version of Bernstein's 'Mass' with well over 100 stage performers and involvment from music and arts in the town of all ages, both amateur and professional .

 

Sue is often engaged as an workshop animateur and teacher for companies including, English National Opera'’s Baylis programme, ‘Artsinform’ (for the Arts Council of Britain), Goldsmiths University London (teaching PGCE Students in the involvement of classical singing and opera and music performances to school children), The London Schools Music Service; working on an intensive programme of music education with inner city schools in Hackney and Southwark, ‘Streetwise Opera’ (working with homeless young adults) and Garsington Opera.

 

Sue also works as a vocal coach for singers in opera and Musical Theatre throughout the UK. 

 

She is Creative and Artistic Director of London Opera Vocal who work with both amateur and professional singers at the National Opera Studio in London and venues across the UK. Susan has also been a regular vocal tutor at West Dean College near Chichester and adjudicates in Music Festivals in the UK. Since 2008, Sue has been one of only six singers in the UK to be part of a continuing Arts Council conference debating the ‘Future of British Singing’.