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Mozart Requiem with the Baltimore Symphony:
“The ripe and communicative singing of mezzo
Susan Platts made the strongest impression among the soloists.” The Baltimore Sun |
Debut Solo Album on the Atma label: “Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts is one of the very few classical singers
who chooses to devote herself exclusively to recitals and concerts - and there is none more accomplished. With a plush
but elemental sound that's hauntingly reminiscent of Kathleen Ferrier, Platts inhabits each of these German art songs as if
it's a world of its own, operatic in scope, every phrase bristling with life. Though always an artist of exceptional
literacy with innate storytelling ability, she has studied in recent years with Jessye Norman. As a result, an artistic
evolution that might have taken fifteen years has happened in rather less time, this recording being the irrefutable evidence.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer |
"Then came the Mahler interlude--the four Songs of a Wayfarer
with the Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts as the soloist--and the evening began to transform itself...Canadian mezzos
of the passing generation, from Maureen Forrester, to the late Patricia Rideout, to the retired Catherine Robbin, have demonstrated
powerful affinities for Mahler's luscious and mordant songs and each has reconciled those songs' polarities with memorable,
highly individual insights. On the evidence of Saturday's performance Platts has taken the torch from those wonderful
artists. She certainly held it high...Here was pathos in beauty in a nutshell." The
Toronto Globe and Mail |
British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan
Platts brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to concert and recital repertoire. Her engagements
include Mahler's Third Symphony with Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris; Mahler's Kindertotenlieder
with Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony; Argento's Casa Guidi with Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra; the title
role of Gluck's Orfeo, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Elgar's Sea Pictures and Mahler's Eighth
Symphony with Yoav Talmi and the Quebec Symphony; the title role of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Mahler's Eighth
Symphony with Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony; Mahler's Eighth and Second Symphonies
with Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Orchestre Metropolitain; Mahler's Second and Third Symphonies
and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony; Mahler's Second Symphony
with Jahja Ling and the San Diego Symphony and Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony; Das Lied von der Erde and
Ravel's Sheherazade with the Louisville Orchestra under Uri Segal and Jorge Mester, respectively; the Mozart Requiem
with Hans Graf and the Detroit Symphony and Michael Christie and the Phoenix Symphony; and Mahler's Eighth, Second
and Third Symphonies, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Bellini's La Sonnambula and Bach's B
Minor Mass and Weihnachtsoratorium with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony. Other orchestral
appearances include Marin
Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony and Marek Janowski and the Boston Symphony (both Beethoven #9), Chicago's Grant Park Music
Festival (Szymanowski's Stabat Mater) and the farewell concerts of Andreas Delfs as Music Director of the Milwaukee
Symphony (Mahler #8). She has twice appeared with the Malaysian
Philharmonic, sang Elijah with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Moest and David Loebel and the Memphis
Symphony; Elgar's Dream of Gerontius with Grant Llewellyn and the North Carolina Symphony; the Verdi
Requiem with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Bruno Ferrandis and the Santa Rosa Symphony
and Chris Wilkins and the Orlando Philharmonic; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis with
the Colorado Symphony; and Mahler #2 with Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic in New York's Carnegie Hall and Boston's
Symphony Hall. Other orchestras with which she has appeared include the CBC Radio Orchestra, Saint Paul and Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestras, Les Violons du Roy, American, Kansas City, Alabama and Austin Symphonies.
Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Sir Andrew Davis, Roberto Abbado, Helmuth Rilling, Jeffrey Kahane, Leon
Botstein, Jane Glover, Anne Manson, Peter Bay and Itzhak Perlman.
Particularly acclaimed for her recital work, Ms. Platts has been welcomed by the major art
song series of Cleveland, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Montreal and New York (Frick Collection and Lincoln Center
"Art of the Song" series.) In May of 2004, as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, world-renowned soprano Jessye
Norman chose Ms Platts from 26 candidates world-wide to be her protégée. She recorded Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for Fontec Records with Gary Bertini conducting the Tokyo Metropolitan
Orchestra, a CD of dramatic sacred art songs with pianist Dalton Baldwin, Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Santa Fe Pro Musica for Dorian Records and Brahms Zwei Gesänge with
Steven Dann and Lambert Orkis on the ATMA label. She has also recorded a CD of the music of Robert Schumann,
Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
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