Suzanne Hendrix

Biography

Mezzo-soprano Suzanne Hendrix has worked at many of the world's most important opera houses and has been recognized for her "piquant mezzo" (Opera News), "amazing power," (San Francisco Classical Voice) and "one-of-a kind richness" (kcmetropolis.org).

Recent credits include her Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of Sotopenre in Philip Glass's Akhnaten. Ms. Hendrix will return to the Metropolitan Opera in that role in the spring of 2022. She was also seen in the streaming premiere performance of the "Operatini" Emma's Adventures in Zoomland with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. The piece was commissioned by the company and written by composer Nancy Hill Cobb specifically for Ms. Hendrix. She reprised the role of Emma, performing it in a live premiere at the concert Suzanne Sings! for Cedar Rapids Opera.

Other recent credits include covering Schwertleite in Die Walküre for the Metropolitan Opera. In the 2017-2018 season she sang the Verdi Requiem with the Grand Rapids Symphony. That spring she made her debut in the role of Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin with Hawaii Opera Theater, followed by an appearance in Alexander Nevsky with the State University of New York, Potsdam, Crane School of Music orchestra and choirs, conducted by Antony Walker. The season ended with an appearance at Santa Fe Opera performing the role of Zulma in L'italiana in Algeri and covering for Candide.

Former appearances include her debut with Oper Frankfurt in Puccini's Il Trittico as La zia Principessa and Zita; Mrs. Ott in Susannah, and Schwertleite in Die Walküre with the San Francisco Opera, the Fortune Teller in Strauss's Arabella with the Santa Fe Opera, Grimgerde (Die Walküre) with Grand Thèâtre Genève, and Waltraute in Die Walküre with Seattle Opera in Der Ring des Nibelungen, directed by Stephen Wadsworth. Ms. Hendrix is a former member of the ensemble of the Wiener Staatsoper, where she made her company debut as a Flowermaiden in Parsifal, and also sang the role of Larina in Eugene Onegin. She has also covered a variety of roles at major opera houses including Azucena in Il Trovatore, Fricka in Das Rheingold, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Mary in Wozzeck at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Fenena in Nabucco, and Erste Magd in Elektra at the Wiener Staatsoper; and Erda (Das Rheingold, Siegfried) and Erste Norn (Götterdämmerung) at Seattle Opera.

In regional opera houses, she has been seen as Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Baba in Menotti's The Medium and Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia with Opera Memphis; Azucena in Il Trovatore and Hedwige (Guillaume Tell) with Wichita Grand Opera. Other roles with Wichita Grand Opera include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Mercédès in Carmen. Additional roles include Ma (The Tender Land), Zita (Gianni Schicchi), the Princess (Suor Angelica), and Florence Pike (Albert Herring). On the concert stage, Ms. Hendrix has appeared as a soloist in Durufé's Requiem, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, and Handel's Messiah, among other pieces. She is a former apprentice artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, Merola Opera Program, and the Santa Fe Opera.

Ms. Hendrix is a 2017 Gerda Lissner Foundation prize winner, as well as the top award winner in the 2017 New York Wagner Society competition. She is also the winner of the 2012 George London Foundation - Kirsten Flagstad Award, and an award from the Sullivan Foundation. She was also a finalist in the Seattle Opera International Wagner Competition. She attended the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory as well as the University of Northern Iowa, where she is currently Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocology.