Mezzo soprano Suzanne DuPlantis is a widely appreciated artist who is featured regularly as soloist throughout the region. Noted for her moving renditions of songs and for her intimate way with an audience, Duplantis “deeply imprints the music with her personality with great emotional underpinning” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Suzanne made her New York debut in the St. John Passion of Bach at Alice Tully Hall with Musica Sacra and her Kimmel Center debut in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Orchestra 2001. Her career in opera has spanned debuts with Arizona Opera, Austin Lyric, New Orleans Opera, Mobile Opera, Eugene Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Knoxville Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia in roles from Rossini’s heroines Rosina and Isabella, Carmen to Waltraute.
In oratorio, chamber music and song, Suzanne has appeared on numerous occasions with many of Philadelphia’s premiere arts organizations including The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Choral Arts Society, Singing City, The Wister Quartet, 1807 and Friends, Mendelssohn Club, The Choristers of Upper Dublin, The Classical Symphony, Music at Gretna and The Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble.
Upcoming oratorio performances include the Verdi Requiem with Bucks County Choral Society, the Newark Symphony Orchestra and Singing City and Bach’s Magnificat with The Choristers of Upper Dublin. She will also be presented in solo recital at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in a program entitled “The Evolution of the Torch Song” and in duet and quartet recitals in New Orleans and in Pittsburgh.
Ms. DuPlantis has premiered many new works including Andrea Clearfield’s “Les Fenêtres” and the “Women of Valor Suite”, Kile Smith’s “Two Laudate Psalms”, Robert Maggio’s “Rachel and her Children; Small Hands Relinquish All”, “Roxanna Panufnik’s “Love Abide”, Logan Skelton’s “Dickinson Songs” and has recorded “Ancestral Waters” of Brian Gabor for mezzo, orchestra and jazz trio. Upcoming premieres include Allen Krantz’s “From On the Road”, Lloyd’s “Ben Unleashed”, and Brillhart’s “Images”.
Ms. DuPlantis holds degrees from Loyola University, Eastman School of Music and The Academy of Vocal Arts, and is an active and committed teacher in the Philadelphia area. With a passionate commitment to song and a belief in its power to reach all listeners, Suzanne co-founded Lyric Fest, a novel and dynamic song festival in Philadelphia that presents theme-oriented programs. Noted for artistic excellence, scholarship and fun, Lyric Fest has received critical acclaim and enjoys broad audience appeal.
