Susan Gritton


Susan Gritton is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss.

Life and career

Gritton was born in Reigate, Surrey. She was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of London, where she studied Botany. She sang with the Clerkes of Oxenford, Monteverdi Choir and Hanover Band Chorus. Early on she was inspired by the singing of Lucia Popp on the Cunning Little Vixen recording conducted by Charles Mackerras.
On the operatic stage, her roles include Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes ; Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites ; Countess Madeleine in Capriccio and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin ; Micaela in Carmen and Liù in Turandot ; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni ; Elettra in Idomeneo and Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Title roles include Theodora, Rodelinda, The Bartered Bride, and The Cunning Little Vixen.
On the concert platform her work spans many periods and styles and includes Ravel's Shéhérazade ; Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem ; Berg's Bruchstücke aus Wozzeck and Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher. Other highlights include Handel's Messiah ; Elgar's The Kingdom ; Shostakovich's Blok Romances ; Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri at the Edinburgh Festival and in Vienna and Britten's Les Illuminations – including the world premiere of Britten's three additional Rimbaud settings. A Grammy nominated artist, she has recorded prolifically for Chandos, Hyperion, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Decca, Philips and Collins Classics among others.
Gritton had no formal "British college or conservatoire training". She is married to the opera director Stephen Medcalf.

Roles

Discography

Prizes and awards