biography
Susie Self is a dynamic composer, singer and conductor. She studied at the Royal College of Music in London gaining an ARCM in singing performance. She studied voice with Josephine Veasey, composition with Stephen Dodgson and conducting with David Parry. She won scholarships from the Royal Society of Arts to study in Germany and The Banff Centre, Canada to study with John Cage. She comes from an artistic background, her grandfather is the playwright John Drinkwater and her cousins are Nigel Kennedy and Will Self.
Susie was invited by Michael Finnissy to compose for The Royal Opera House’s “Garden Venture”, her opera HEROIC WOMEN featured on Radio 3 and toured to Taiwan, California and Mexico. Her first two symphonies are recorded by The Moravian Philharmonic, the second was highly commended in the “Van de Vate” competition in Vienna and the First was performed in Beijing in 2008. Key commissions include “Magnificat” for The Arts Council, “EIS” for Brigittenau Orchestra, “Sheela–na-gig” for Sounds Positive and "Re-orientations" for Border Crossings at the Soho Theatre. This year the RVW Trust commissioned her to compose the song cycle “Songs of Immortality” for Jeremy Huw Williams, performed at Gloucester Music Society and “Ellipsis” commissioned "Cosmic Lion Goddess", performed for The Eckhart Society. Her new opera “The Boy from Brazil” was performed at Tête à Tête’s Opera Festival this summer in London. She recently completed her Third Symphony, “The Pacific”, and is currently working on her Fourth, “The Island”. Current commissions include a song cycle for James Gilchrist, “Nor Ran Su Tuan” for Chris Brannick, and “Kandinsky’s Ears” for “Sounds Positive”. Susie will be the composer in residence for Tardebigge Song Festival next year.
Known as Susannah Self in the opera world, recent engagements include Ma Moss in Copland’s “The Tender Land” for Lyon Opera, La Padrona in “Der Turm” for Luxembourg Opera, Mrs Grose in “Turn of the Screw” and Mistress Quickly in “Falstaff” for Salzburg and Chile and 3rd Secretary in John Adams’s “Nixon in China” for Athens. Susannah worked for nine years with the Vlaamse Opera in Belgium and Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg. Roles in these houses included Madame de la Haltière in “Cendrillon”, Marie in “Der Fliegende Holländer” and Emilia in “Otello”. During this time she sang Mahler’s Third Symphony, Glass’s Peace Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem with the Flemish Philharmonic and played Katisha in “The Mikado” at the Savoy Theatre. Susannah is a regular cover for Opera North, Glyndebourne and The Royal Opera House. Roles include Ježibaba in “Rusalka”, Mrs Sedley in “Peter Grimes”, Magdalone in “Maskarade”, Aksinya in “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and Brigitta in “Die Tote Stadt”. She was awarded Best Vocalist at the Buxton Festival Fringe in 2010 for performances of her new album “Seachanges”.
Susie co-directs “Selfmade Music” in London and “Seastar Opera” in North Norfolk with her cellist/composer husband Michael Christie. Last year she conducted “Albert Herring” and this year conducts “The Turn of The Screw “. She runs holistic workshops for Skyros (Greece) and Rancho La Puerta (Mexico) and is visiting professor of composition at Junior Guildhall. Her private singing/sound healing practice is in North London and North Norfolk.
To view her page on the North London Music Teachers and Performers site, click on this link: www.northlondonmusicteachers.com or go to the site independently and click on instruments>singing/voice teachers.
