Susan Brownfield is an
Honors graduate of the University of Oregon School of Music,
where she was named Performer of the Year and earned her B.M.
degree while studying with Milagro Vargas. She completed her
M.M. degree at Boston’s New England Conservatory, studying
under the renowned Helen Hodam. Ms.
Brownfield, a District Winner in the 2001 Metropolitan Opera
Competition, later portrayed the role of Mimi in Puccini’s
“La Boheme” with the Harvard Lowell Opera. Prior
to that, Ms. Brownfield performed the role of Young Liza with
Boston Academy of Music Opera in the long-awaited return of
Weill’s “Lady in the Dark,” starring Delores
Ziegler. Preceding that engagement, she sang in Boston Vocal
Artists’ inaugural production of Menotti’s “The
Telephone” in the role of Lucy. In addition, she performed
the role of Sonia for the world premiere of Jeremy Conley’s
“Crime and Punishment” at the City Theatre in
Biddeford, Maine. Ms. Brownfield spent two summer seasons
with the Utah Festival Opera where she performed the role
of Liat in Hammerstein’s “South Pacific,”
Isabelle/Madeline in Mollicone’s “Face on the
Barroom Floor” and covered the role of Pamina in Mozart’s
“The Magic Flute.” Most recently, Ms. Brownfield
was heard in the role of Rose in Maine Grand Opera’s
production of Weill’s “Street Scene”.
Ms. Brownfield returned to her birth
country of Vietnam in the Fall of 1997 as a special guest
of the Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Nations. She performed
concerts and presented master classes at the National Conservatories
of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi during her three-week
performing tour of the country.
The Boston premiere of Richard Danielpour’s
“Sonnets to Orpheus” featured Ms. Brownfield,
directed by John Heiss with the New England Conservatory Contemporary
Ensemble, and she was also a soloist for Haydn’s “Missa,”
under the direction of Amy Dethman at Wellesley College. She
performed with the Salem (Oregon) Chamber Orchestra by virtue
of winning the Joseph Schnelker Young Artists Competition,
and has been heard at Salt Lake City’s Cathedral of
the Madeline as a soprano soloist for Bach’s “Saint
John Passion.”
A staunch proponent of new music, Ms. Brownfield has participated in numerous premieres. In the United States, she performed the role of Sonia for the world premiere of Jeremy Conley’s “Crime and Punishment” at the City Theatre in Biddeford, Maine. The Boston premiere of Richard Danielpour’s “Sonnets to Orpheus” featured Ms. Brownfield, directed by John Heiss with the New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble.
In Europe in 2009, she was invited to participate as a guest artist of the American-Bulgarian Music Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has returned for several subsequent seasons. In Sofia, she performed the European premiere of songs by Amy Beach and Stefania DeKenessey and also the European premiere of Samuel Barber’s unpublished songs in cooperation with the Florestan Recital Project and the United States Library of Congress. She was also a guest artist in a 2009 concert with the Sofia National Operetta and Musical Theatre. The summer of 2011 brought Ms. Brownfield to Cascais, Portugal, where she sang the Portuguese premiere of Libby Larsen’s song cycle, “Sonnets From the Portuguese.”
A remarkably versatile performer,
Ms. Brownfield has also garnered numerous theatre credits,
including the National Broadway Tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
“The King and I,” with Hayley Mills and Marie
Osmond. Ms. Brownfield subsequently starred as Tuptim in the
same production at Westchester Broadway Theatre in New York.
She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Carbonell
Award in 2002 for her reprisal of this role at the renowned
Actor’s Playhouse in Miami. Ms. Brownfield has
starred in several theatre productions with the “The
Originals” Theatre Company in Maine including Claire
in David Auburn’s “Proof”, Woman #3 in Kander
& Ebb’s “And, the World Goes ‘Round”
and most recently, Betty Lou Spence in BT McNicholl’s
“It Girl.”
Ms. Brownfield can also be heard
on the Arsis Label recording of Rodney Lister’s “A
Christmas Album.” |