Susan Gritton
Susan Gritton is an English soprano who made her breakthrough to singing principal roles in 1999.
After studying botany at Oxford and London Universities she moved her avocational voice training up to a professional level, then took up singing as a career. She first came to prominence when she won the coveted Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award in 1994.
This resulted in her solo recital debut at London's Wigmore Hall, with Eugene Asti as accompanist. She joined Graham Johnson in the International Songmakers' series, and made extensive appearances in recital throughout England, especially in summer festivals, appearing at the Lichfield, Arundel, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Harrowgate, and City of London Festivals, as well as in the Salzburg Mozartwoche. In 1996 she was invited to appear three times in the BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. One of her early festival appearances was at the Istanbul Festival where she sang the part of Blondchen in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the city where the story is set.
The first few years in her operatic career were in smaller and character parts, such as the First Niece in Britten's Peter Grimes, Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen, Clarine and Thalie in Rameau's Platée, Xenia in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Sister Constance in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites, the Mermaid in Weber's Oberon, and Tiny in Britten's Paul Bunyan. She sang Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Berlin Staatsoper, Fulvia in Handel's Ezio with the King's Consort in the Théâtre des Champs Elysée of Paris, Atalanta in Handel's Xerxes at the English National Opera, the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw and Lucia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in the Aldeburgh Festival under Steuart Bedford's direction, Susanna in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni for the Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas.
Gritton became known as a reliable recording artist early in her career. On the Tring label she sang the soprano part in Górecki's Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), the part of Miss Wordsworth in the Collins Classics recording under Steuart Bedford of Britten's Albert Herring, a set of Holst songs for the same label, Vivaldi's Ottone in Villa on Chandos with Hickox conducting, several Purcell discs, sacred music of Handel and Handel's Deborah and Occasional Oratorio with the King's Consort on Hyperion, and, on Deutsche Grammophon, Handel's Solomon (as the Queen of Sheba) and Messiah as well as Beethoven's little-known Vesta's Feuer. Her first solo recital disc was a collection of songs by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel on Hyperion, and her first operatic lead was as Handel's Theodora with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players for Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv label. She also recorded the Purcell/Britten realizations on Hyperion with Graham Johnson.
For the 1999 - 2000 season she received a contract as a principal singer at the English National Opera. Her debuts in lead roles in that capacity were as Pamina in The Magic Flute and the title role in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen, as well as appearances as Drusilla in Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea and Hero in Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict.
© TiVo
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Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Susan Gritton, BBC Symphony Chorus, Stephen Jackson
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: The Longed-for Light
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Simon Callow, Susan Gritton, John Wilson
Classical - Released by SOMM Recordings on 13 Nov 2012
Gramophone Editor's Choice16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hummel: Mass in E-Flat Major, Te Deum & Quod in orbe
Richard Hickox, Collegium Musicum, Susan Gritton, Ann Murray, James Gilchrist, Stephen Varcoe
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
G. F. Händel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Opera - Released by Farao Classics on 1 Aug 2012
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Messe du Couronnement
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Overture to The Wasps & A Sea Symphony
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Susan Gritton, Gerald Finley, London Symphony Chorus
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2007
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vedic Hymns / Four Songs, Op. 35 / Humbert Wolfe Settings (English Song, Vol. 6)
Susan Gritton, Christopher Maltman, Philip Langridge, Louisa Fuller, Steuart Bedford
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Naxos on 7 Sep 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hubert Parry: 12 Sets of English Lyrics, Vol. 1
Mélodies (England) - Released by SOMM Recordings on 8 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gorecki: Symphony No. 3; Three Pieces in Olden Style
Susan Gritton, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Simonov
Classical - Released by Musical Concepts on 11 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 1
Purcell Quartet, Susan Gritton, Robin Blaze, Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on 1 May 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos sacrés & Musique pour clavecin
Susan Gritton, Paul Agnew, Stephen Varcoe, Julian Podger, Robert Woolley, Purcell Quartet
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Sea Symphony - The Wasps Overture
London Symphony Orchestra, Susan Gritton, Richard Hickox, Gerald Finley, London Symphony Chorus
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos et Cantates pour Noël
Collegium Musicum, Susan Gritton, Collegium Musicum 90 Chorus, Simon Standage
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messe en ré mineur - Salve Regina
Susan Gritton, Pamela Helen Stephen, Mark Padmore, Stephen Varcoe, Collegium Musicum, Richard Hickox
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 2005
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Susan Gritton chante Britten, Finzi & Delius
Classical - Released by Chandos on 27 Apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Britten Abroad
Iain Burnside, Mark Padmore, Susan Gritton
Classical - Released by Signum Classics on 1 Jan 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fanny Mendelssohn (Fanny Hensel): Lieder
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LCO Live - Rossini/Mozart/Beethoven
London Chamber Orchestra, Susan Gritton
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 10 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Susan Gritton sings Medtner - Goethe Lieder
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clara Schumann: The Complete Lieder
Susan Gritton, Stephan Loges, Eugene Asti
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo