Suzanne Lommler

Mezzo-soprano Suzanne Lommler teaches voice at Grinnell College and is also very active as a performer. She enjoys helping others on their quest to develop a healthy singing technique and find their own voice.

Her recent performances in Chicago with Haymarket Opera have garnered great critical acclaim. The Chicago Tribune wrote of her “dark and alluring” voice in the role of the sorceress Melissa (Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula): “Lommler’s assured technique allowed her to turn on a dime from fury to pathos and back again. Her sorceress all but burned up the stage.” The Chicago Classical Review: “Deploying her exceptionally pliant, crisp mezzo-soprano voice, she romped through Handel’s twisting, leaping arias like a proud lioness.” As Silvia in Haydn’s L’isola disabitata, the Chicago Tribune: “displaying beautiful voice and clear projection of the Italian text…Lommler conveyed Silvia’s ingenuous charm through a perky stage manner and a warm, focused tone that was equal to the role’s wide vocal compass.”

2018-19 brought her debuts in the title roles of both Carmen for Opera Kelowna (British Columbia), and Xerxes for Haymarket Opera (Chicago). Other recent engagements include a recital with Grammy-nominated harpsichordist Jory Vinikour at Great Lakes Baroque Festival (Milwaukee), Mobile Opera’s Winter Gala (Alabama), Mozart’s Mass in C minor with The Grinnell Singers and Orchestra, Bach’s Mass in B minor with Orchestra Iowa, and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder with the Central Iowa Symphony.

She was soloist with Orchestra Iowa in Bach’s St. John Passion and with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony in A Mozart Soirée. Both concerts were broadcast on Iowa Public Radio. She was also a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra in Bach’s Magnificat; and performed Bizet’s Carmen in the film Kharmen, by Jay Bolotin.

Suzanne has sung roles with Pittsburgh Opera and the Hamburger Kammeroper (Germany). Her New York City debut was as Annio in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, conducted by Julius Rudel. She sang in recital at the Handel House Museum (London); in Hamburg’s Opernsalon series (Germany); with the Edinburgh Quartet (Scotland), Kansas City Symphony, Cincinnati May Festival, Bloomington Early Music Festival, Spoleto Festival (Italy), Cincinnati Opera, Portland Opera Repertory Theatre (Maine), Florida Grand Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Garsington Opera (England), the Glyndebourne Festival Opera (England), Glyndebourne on Tour, the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, and the Tanglewood Institute. 

Suzanne Lommler performs J. S. Bach's Es ist vollbracht (St. John Passion)

Suzanne Lommler performs Youkali by Kurt Weill