Suzanna Guzmán

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Suzanna Guzmán (born in East Los Angeles, California is an American mezzo-soprano. Ms. Guzman has sung in major operas such as La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, La Favorite in Montpellier, France, and Goya at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. She garnered international acclaim for her portrayal of the titular role in Carmen for Houston Grand Opera's critically acclaimed multimedia production (known as the “MTV Carmen”), a role she has repeated more than one hundred times in major houses across the globe.

Ms. Guzmán began performing professionally at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre. Most of her early career successes were in musical theater rather than opera, such as playing opposite the legendary Yul Brynner on his final tour (and 4000th performance) of [[The King and I]]. At the urging of an early voice teacher, she entered the Metropolitan Opera Competition, where as a finalist she caught the attention of impresario Francis Rizzo, who hired her for ten consecutive seasons with Washington Opera. It was there, at the Kennedy Center, that she first worked with the legendary opera composer/director Giancarlo Menotti on his new opera Goya (with Plácido Domingo), which led to further collaborations including new productions of The Consul, The Saint of Bleecker Street, and Amahl and the Night Visitors, for which she was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. In 1987 she was named an Associate Artist of the Los Angeles Opera by the late Peter Hemmings and has appeared as a principal artist in over thirty-three productions to date.

Ms. Guzmán’s prowess as a singing actress has made her a favorite of many well-known directors such as John Schlesinger, Sir Peter Hall, and Robert Wilson; these same talents have made her popular with contemporary composers as well: Tobias Picker (Fantastic Mr. Fox), Daniel Catán (Florencia en el Amazonas), Cliff Eidelmann (Wedding in the Night Garden), Ian Krouse (Lorca, Child of the Moon), Richard Rodgers Melnick (Chinese Cabaret), and Lee Holdridge (Journey to Córdoba and Concierto para Mendez) have all called upon her to originate roles in their operas. She performs with orchestras and symphonies across the United States and is the 2006-2007 Resident Artist of the California Philharmonic. She sang as a principal soloist with Tambuco Percussion Ensemble of Mexico and the Southwest Chamber Music's CD Carlos Chavez Volume 3, which was nominated for a 2006 Best Classical CD, Best Small Ensemble and for Best Classical Latin Grammy.

In addition to on stage performance Ms. Guzmán was heard on FM radio for nine seasons as producer, writer and host of Sunday Evening Opera. She is an advocate of arts in education, serving on the Board of UCLA’s Design for Sharing, the Education Committee of Los Angeles Opera, and the Pasadena Arts Council. Her award-winning one-woman show, Don’t Be Afraid: It’s Just Opera, has been performed for more than 200,000 students nationwide.

[edit] Discography

Carlos Chavez Volume 3 (soloist)
- Grammy nominated (Best Classical CD, Best Classical Small Ensemble)
- Latin Grammy Nominated
- Southwest Chamber Music
- Tambuco Percussion Ensemble with Alba Quezada
- Cambria (1 CD) CD 8852

Three Friends: Music of Ian Krouse (soloist)
- The Debussy Trio
- Ian Krouse, composer
- Marcia Dickstein, conductor
- Rubeda Canis Musica (1 CA) B000050AE1
- US Release September 4, 2001

Florencia en el Amazonas (Paula)
- Daniel Catan, composer
- Patrick Summers, conductor with Ana Maria Martinez, Patricia Schumann, Chad Shelton…
- Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
- Albany Record (2 CD) TROY 531/532
- US Release September 2002

Goya (Duchess of Alba)
- Giancarlo Menotti, composer
- Steven Mercurio, conductor with Cesar Hernandez, Andrew Wentzel, Penelope Daner
- Spoleto Festival Orchestra
- ICARUS Nuova Era (2 CD) 7060/61
- Italy release April 1992
- US re release Copa d'Oro Records

[edit] Filmography/TV

CSI: New York ("Murder Sings the Blues") (2006) Madame Butterfly
- Directed by Oz Scott

Twilight of the Golds (1997) Brünnhilde
- Directed by Ross Kagan Marks
- Written by Jonathan Tolins

Courage: Profiles in Creativity (1998-documentary) Herself
- Directed by Deanna McDaniels

Suzanna Guzmán - Native Angelena: Voice of an Angel (2002) Herself
- Associate Press Award Best Short Profile
- Producer Gay Yee
- Host Val Zavala for PBS LIFE AND TIMES