Hailed by international critics for her beautiful, powerful voice and riveting stage presence, American soprano Susan Marie Pierson is a true leading lady in every sense of the word. Widely known for her magnificently convincing roles in Wagner and Strauss operas, she also has an impressive performance list of 38 leading roles in 58 opera productions since the beginning of her career.

Miss Pierson’s performance credits include more than 20 different Wagner productions and seven separate Ring Cycles. She has been engaged by over 35 opera companies, including the Baltimore Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Scala, Netherlands Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opéra de Nantes, Pittsburgh Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Théatre du Chatalet and Teatro Communale di Bologna, and has sung among others, the leading soprano roles in: Der fliegende Holländer, the Ring Cycle, Salome, Elektra, Tosca, Otello, Stiffelio, Un Ballo in Maschera, Jenufa (Kostelnicka), The Makropulos Case, Kat’ya Kabanova, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der Freischütz and Fidelio.

Last season included Miss Pierson's debut with Edmonton Opera singing both leading roles in the Robert Lepage double bill of Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung, her return to Chemnitz for Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung, a return to one of her favorite Mozart roles, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in Naples, Florida, and her debut with the Edmonton Symphony in Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass.

This current 2007-2008 season began with her Elektra in Buenos Aires with Teatro Colón and she finishes up 2007 with 24 performances of the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music for the Ordway Center in St. Paul, MN. She begins 2008 as Abigaille in Nabucco for rehearsals with the Munich State Opera, and then returns to the Metropolitan Opera to cover Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. A Gala Wagner Concert with tenor Jon West follows with the Utica Symphony.

Two of next season's upcoming engagements are another Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer; returning to Edmonton Opera, and a return engagement with Seattle Opera as The Woman in the Robert Lepage production of Erwartung, where, breaking from their tradition of two casts, Seattle Opera will have Miss Pierson singing all of the performances.

Highlights of previous seasons include her debut as Christine in Mourning becomes Electra for Seattle Opera and her debut as Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with the complete opera performed in concert and recorded by Titanic Records.

Career highlights include the role of Amelia in a National PBS Telecast of Un Ballo in Maschera with Luciano Pavarotti and being the only opera singer to date nominated for the prestigious Dora Mava Moore Award (Canadian Tony Award) for her portrayal of Elektra. Miss Pierson has performed with the Innsbruck Symphony, Orchestre National de Paris, Phoenix Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Springfield Symphony and Canton Symphony, and sung solo roles under direction of Zubin Mehta, Donald Runicles, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Jeffrey Tate, Leif Segerstam and others. She has recorded the role of Ortlinde in Die Walküre on a Decca CD with Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra, and also sung on national radio broadcasts with the CBC in Toronto, WGN in Chicago, Radio France, and numerous local broadcasts.

Miss Pierson is a native of Oregon, received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Boston University School for the Arts, and lives in New York.

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