All at Samling were deeply saddened to hear that Susan’s life had been cut short in the summer of 2014.
Susan, who became a Samling Artist in 2004, trained at Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, and was selected by English National Opera to take part in their training programme The Knack.
At the Royal Academy of Music, her roles included L’Enfant L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Idamante Idomeneo, Rosina La Vera Constanza and Volupia Egisto. At the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, her roles included Ruggiero Alcina, Nancy Albert Herring, Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Her operatic repertoire included: Dorabella CosÌ fan tutte, Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro, Idamante Idomeneo, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tisbe La Cenerentola, Isolier Le Comte Ory, Mercedes Carmen, Ruggiero Alcina, Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus and Melanto and Amor Il Ritorno d’Ulisse.
Susan Atherton contributed to Graeme Vick’s Birmingham Opera Company productions for the last two seasons performing the roles of Melanto and Amor Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and Zerlina Don Giovanni, a performance that drew critical praise from the London Times. In summer 2005 she performed 1st Tourist in Jonathan Dove’s Greed for the Glyndebourne Jerwood Development scheme.
Her oratorio repertoire included Bach’s B minor Mass, Magnificat, St Matthew Passion, and Christmas Oratorio, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Durufle’s Requiem, Elgar’s The Music Makers, Handel’s Belshazzar, Messiah and Ode to the Birthday of Queen Anne, Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Tippet’s Child of our Timeand Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Susan Atherton’s key oratoria engagements included Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the CBSO under the direction of Sakari Oramo. Recent engagements included Speranza Orfeo and Second Woman/Second Witch Dido and Aeneas for English Touring Opera, Dryad Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera, a series of short operas on tour for Opera Tete-a-Tete and Mercedes for Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall.