Susan Owen-Leinert

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Susan Owen-Leinert (born September 6, 1958 in Salisbury , North Carolina ) is an American opera singer , vocal teacher and editor. She is married to the director, dramaturge and author Michael Leinert .

Life

Susan Owen-Leinert grew up on her parents' farm in North Carolina. She completed her music studies at East Carolina University in 1976–1980 (Bachelor of Music). Then she continued her studies at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1983 with a "Master of Music". Susan Owen worked as an assistant professor of singing and music history at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1984 to 1987 . She was engaged in lyrico-spinto at various opera houses in the USA (including Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte , Countess in The Marriage of Figaro , Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni , Nedda in Pagliacci , Mimi in La Bohème , the title roles in Madama Butterfly and Tosca etc.).

In 1990 Susan Owen-Leinert won the prestigious Metropolitan Opera competition. A year later she was the first winner of the “Opera America Award” and the Sullivan Grant Prize and a finalist in the Luciano Pavarotti Competition. Parts like Tosca (Central City Opera, Austin Lyric Opera and Virginia Opera), Maddalena in Andrea Chénier (Hawaii Opera), the title role in Aida and others followed. With Eve Queler and the New York Opera Orchestra, she sang Irene in Richard Wagner's Rienzi .

In 1993 she brought Daniel Barenboim to the Staatsoper Berlin for the role of Helmwige in Die Walküre . Susan Owen also made her debut here as Senta in 1996 in The Flying Dutchman (musical direction: Jun Märkl ). Susan Owen also sang Senta in Bologna with the Orchestra Arturo Toscanini dell'Emilia Romagna, in numerous performances in Aachen and at the Kassel State Theater. Susan Owen-Leinert sang another Richard Wagner role at the Austin Lyric Opera in Texas: Elisabeth im Tannhäuser (1996). She later sang both roles, Venus and Elisabeth, at the Palm Beach Opera in Florida under the musical direction of Anton Guadagno.

From 1995 to 1999 Susan Owen-Leinert was a permanent member of the ensemble of the Kassel State Theater. There she sang next to the Senta u. a. also the Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana , the Leonora in La forza del destino and the Giorgetta in Il tabarro . In 1997 she sang the title role in Leoš Janáček's opera Jenůfa under the direction of János Kulka .

In 1996, Susan Owen-Leinert was invited by Radio France to premier a new work by the Polish composer Zygmunt Krauze ( La terre ) (as part of the Festival for Contemporary Music in Paris). The German premiere of this 30-minute orchestral work for soprano took place on the occasion of documenta X in September 1997 in Kassel. Here, too, as at the premiere in Paris, the Swiss composer and long-time director Rolf Liebermann was enthusiastic about Susan Owen's voice and interpretive art.

In the new Kassel Ring des Nibelungen (1997–1999) Susan Owen as Brünnhilde (1998/99) was “the” discovery of the year, as the press wrote, alongside her partner Christian Franz as Siegfried. She sang Die Walküren -Brünnhilde a. a. also at the Bonn Opera and in Kiel, in Liège with James Morris (Wotan), the Siegfried -Brünnhilde at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi Trieste , at the Kiel Opera House and in Liège.

After her debut at the Staatstheater Darmstadt with the title role in Elektra by Richard Strauss in April 1998 (musical direction: Marc Albrecht ), Susan Owen-Leinert sang this role at the 1st Antikenfestspiele in Trier with Anja Silja (Klytaemnestra) and Franz Grundträger (Orest) , alternating with Hildegard Behrens in July 1998. On February 27, 1999, the Staatstheater Kassel made another role debut with Alban Berg's Wozzeck -Marie, staged by Michael Leinert and under the musical direction of Marc Piollet.

In 1999 Susan Owen sang the dyer in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten and Emilia Marty in Janáček's Věc Makropoulos at the Darmstadt State Theater . In 2000 the Staatstheater Darmstadt brought out a new production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with Susan Owen-Leinert with her as Isolde. Guest performances at the Aalto Theater in Essen and at the symphony concerts in Münster with the role of Elektra (conductor Will Humburg) followed. Susan Owen last sang this role at the Hanover State Opera .

Under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann , she sang the part of Isolde ( Deutsche Oper Berlin ) on May 27, 2001 , with which she made her debut in Berlin on May 20 under the direction of Jiri Kout. She sang this role in 2002 in Düsseldorf / Duisburg ( Deutsche Oper am Rhein ) under the musical direction of Hans Wallat.

In September 2001 Susan Owen-Leinert made her debut at the Semperoper Dresden with the role of the dyer in Die Frau ohne Schatten with the conductor Marc Albrecht . In December 2001 Susan Owen-Leinert sang the revival premiere of the Flying Dutchman (Senta) at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg. At the Staatstheater Darmstadt she made her debut as Ortrud in February 2002 in Lohengrin . At the Nancy Opera House she sang the role of Isolde in a new production by Tristan and Isolde.

Susan Owen-Leinert gave numerous recitals and concerts, including programs of Heinrich Heine lieder , Richard Strauss compositions and works by contemporary composers. She made her debut at the Chamber Opera of Memphis in October 2007 with the solo role in Peter Maxwell Davies ' The Medium .

Teaching

Since summer 2005 Susan Owen-Leinert has been a professor for singing at the University of Memphis / Tennessee, USA. Here she passes on her practical knowledge and international experience to young singers. She has also been the director of the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions (West Tennessee District) since 2005. The Memphis Opera & Song Academy, a summer singers course at the University of Memphis TN, which she founded in 2006, is also under her direction. She has been Associate Professor of Voice and Head of the Vocal Arts Division at the University of Memphis since 2011 .

In addition to her extensive teaching and concert activities, she has translated chamber operas by Bent Lorentzen into English ( A Wondrous Love Story and Pergolesi's HomeService ). She is the editor of the first, critical complete edition of the songs by Louis Spohr , some of which were unknown and believed lost and have been available in full in 12 volumes from Verlag Dohr, Cologne, since 2011. Owen-Leinert is President of the Spohr Society of the United States.

Awards

  • Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition 1990
  • 1st recipient of the Opera America Award and the Sullivan Grant Prize, 1991
  • Winner of the 2009 CCFA Dean's Creative Achievement Award from the University of Memphis.

Discography

  • Richard Wagner: Die Walküre , 2007, Ars Production ARS 38 052 (as Brünnhilde)
  • Richard Wagner: Siegfried , 1999, Ars Produktion FCD 368 367-370 (as Brünnhilde)
  • Richard Wagner: Götterdämmerung , 2001, Ars Production FCD 368 381-384 (as Brünnhilde)
  • From the Treasure Chest of German Lied (1460-1933) , Highwater Classics Memphis, HC 31688, 2006; Songs from five centuries with Mark Ensley (piano) and Carina L. Nyberg Washington (clarinet)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Owen-Leinert, Susan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Owen, Susan (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Salisbury , North Carolina