Classical Musician, Singer, Conductor & Musicologist

Find audio tracks on Soundcloud and YouTube! View the Press Page for live performances, films & documentaries, radio interviews, magazine articles, blogs, press releases and other publicity. Suzanne's Demo CD Brucia La Terra is available for purchase here. Top photo by Ethan DuPuy. Thanks to Luke Copping Photography for the Headshots:

Possessing a unique and powerful voice, Suzanne is a Contralto (Tiefer Alt/ Contralto Profondo/ Oktavista) based in Buffalo, NY, performing in top venues in the US, Canada, England, Scotland, France, Malta, Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic. For 5 years she lived in York UK, where she studied historical performance practice with Grammy-winning John Potter, Peter Seymour, and world famous soprano Lynne Dawson. Ms. Fatta has been praised highly for her very expansive range and dramatic skills, singing from Bass I to Soprano II; in fact she performs professionally as a Bass in the famous Vivaldi's Women choir (aka Schola Pietatis Antonio Vivaldi) as seen on the BBC (Richard Vendome, director). Suzanne is also the Founder and Artistic Director of The Women of Vivaldi, Buffalo’s only pure early music choir, and only full all-female ensemble. In addition, she recently founded Pavana, the only early music trio in this part of the state. Suzanne’s voice studio focuses on teaching low voiced females; she’s also a singing teacher for 5-10 year olds at Hummingbird Music School in San Carlos, CA.

To learn more about my group The Women of Vivaldi, please click our logo above!

To learn more about my group The Women of Vivaldi, please click our logo above!

Suzanne has been a soloist with the top organizations in WNY such as Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Buffalo Chamber Players, Eastman Collegium Musicum, Nickel City Opera, Ars Nova Musicians/ Viva Vivaldi Fest, Vocális Chamber Choir, Sotto Voce Vocal Collective, QED, Camerata di Sant'Antonio, Opera Sacra, June in Buffalo, Harmonia Chamber Singers, Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Buffalo Master Chorale [current Tenor Section Leader], OperaBuffs of WNY, The Opera Foundation of Buffalo; and several early music groups in Europe. She was very proud to be the first cis-female in history to sing within Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus, as the Tenor II section leader for the Stonewall 50 celebrations. An early music specialist, Suzanne sang the Tenor and Alto solos in Bach Weihnachtsoratorium completing the cycle in early 2019. In early 2017 Suzanne headlined the Vivaldi WinterFest with Music Niagara; she debuted at Rochester Early Music Festival and the Fredonia Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival some time earlier.

Having studied Vocal Performance, Musicology and Historical Performance Practice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Joint BA With Honors), Suzanne has done doctoral studies in Historical Performance Practice at the Eastman School of Music with Paul O'Dette performing in the Eastman Collegium Musicum as a featured soloist; and at the University of York; her focus is vocal music of the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition, she has a Masters in Medieval Studies and Religion from Harvard University, where she won a university-wide Teaching Award of Distinction for a course on Jazz and Music of the Swing Era. Learn more about her academic pursuits here. You can also find Suzanne presenting lectures through groups like OperaBuffs of WNY (her 2014 presentation was selected by OPERA America as one of the top 15 National Opera Week events in the nation) and The Forest Lawn Sunday Series. Check out her interview in Buffalo Rising's Sounds of Buffalo feature! At Oberlin, Suzanne was DJ Hildegard for a popular show promoting pre- and post-tonal music (Tonality Sucks!) at WOBC 91.5.

Suzanne is proud to have sung professionally with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus & Chamber Singers, serving as both the Alto and Tenor Section Leaders with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under Marvin Hamlisch and Maestra JoAnn Falletta. In addition to Choral Directing the BPO's Copland And the Cold War Celebration in 2015, she appeared as The Wife of Noon in their magnificent production of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle on the Dale Chihuly set. As a passionate Arts Administrator, she is proud to be Managing Director at Nickel City Opera. Suzanne is gaining a reputation as one of the most in-demand concert programmers in town; currently, she produces the smash-hit Suzanne Fatta Presents Opera Cabaret at the Bittersweet.

Voice teachers include Tony Arnold, Jacqueline Quirk, Yvonne Seymour, Robert Vehar, Gerald Crawford and La Scala mezzo Genia Las. Other conductors/ directors she's performed with are Doreen Rao, Atis Bankas, Philip Thorby, Grant Cooper, Roland E. Martin, Daniel Bassin, Nadja Zwiener, Will Todd Trio, Robert Shoup, Lorna Cooke de Varon, Lisa Goode Crawford, Steven Plank and Frank Scinta. And Suzanne has had coachings with the Grammy-winning Tallis Scholars, Robert Hollingworth, Francis Steele, Black Hair Ensemble and more.

Conducting credits include scenes from Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro for The Operagasmic Project, a sacred harp group in York Minster, and co-conducting with Graham Coatman for the North Eastern Early Music Forum's Venetian Christmas Music workshop; Suzanne was also a mentor, rehearsal director and vocal coach for Vivaldi's Women Summer School. For 4 summers, she was a music instructor, teaching voice lessons, vocal performance class, jazz choir, chamber choir, and music history & theory at Camp Encore/ Coda in Maine.

Collaborating with composer Emily Kalies on a theatrical work, in early 2010 Ms. Fatta gave the world-premiere of one-woman piece Reflection noitcelfeR, at Sensorium - York, then performed it a number of times around the UK since. Her female trio consort Juniper, experimenting with repertoire across the Western canon, debuted as Young Artists in Residence at the Harrogate International Festival in 2009.

Proficient performance languages include Italian, Sicilian, German, Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, French, Provençal, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Latin, Russian, Old Church Slavonic, Friûlan, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Welsh. 

In high demand as a Professional Soloist, Ringer and Section Leader, Ms. Fatta also enjoys singing in some of New York’s most beautiful architectural and acoustic masterpieces, such as [NYC] Merkin Hall, St. John the Divine; [Buffalo] Kleinhans Music Hall, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Burchfield Penney Art Center, The Montante Center, Ciminelli Recital Hall, Karpeles Manuscript Museum, The Ellicott Square Building, Hotel Henry, Historic Colored Musician’s Club, Hotel At The Lafayette, Bittersweet Piano Lounge, and The Saturn Club. Local houses of worship include Trinity Episcopal [current Alto Section Leader], Prince of Peace Temple Church of God in Christ [current Praise Gospel singer], St. Paul’s Cathedral (Tenor Section Leader), First Presbyterian, St. John’s Grace Episcopal (Leader of Song), Clarence Presbyterian, Temple Beth Zion, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo. Foreign venues include: [Canada] St Marks in Niagara-on-the-Lake; [England, UK] National Centre for Early Music York, Harrogate Hall, The National Railway Museum, King’s College Cambridge, Trinity College Cambridge, The Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Grosvenor Chapel London, Royal Naval College Greenwich, Ely Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral, York Minster, York Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral; [Scotland, UK] Paxton Festival; [Venice, IT] Basilica dei Frari, I Gesuati, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, La Scuola Grande di San Rocco; [Prague, CR] Smetana Hall; [Roujan, FR] La Maison Verte; [Germany) Konzerthaus, Berlin; Thomaskirche, Leipzig; [Malta] Festival Mediterranea at St George’s Basilica, Gozo.

SELECTED CREDITS (*world- or modern-premiere)

OPERA ROLES

  • Frog Spirit; The Second Sight, * Jessie Downs; June in Buffalo

  • Mother Wine Cask/ The Queen of Lasciviousness; Joan Of Arc At The Stake, Honegger; Opera Sacra final production, Buffalo

  • The Huntsman; Venus & Adonis, John Blow; Buffalo Chamber Players

  • Prioress Mme De Croissy; Dialogues of the Carmelites, Poulenc; Opera Sacra 40th Anniversary production, Buffalo

  • Queen of Noon (Wife 2); Bluebeard's Castle, Bartok; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; Dale Chihuly set (dir. JoAnn Falletta)

  • Consiglio; Il Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo, Cavalieri (dir. Lewis Reynolds); Philip Thorby; Venice Italy

  • Sancho Pança; Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse, Boismortier; Viriditas Opera; Paxton Festival Scotland

  • Sancho Panza; Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Camacho, Telemann; Viriditas Opera; Paxton

  • Singer/ Actress; noitcelfeRReflection, * Emily Kalies; Sensorium Project; York, Dublin Ireland

  • Testo; Il combattimento di Tancredi & Clorinda, Monteverdi (dir. G. Romagnoli); Trinacria Productions; York

  • The Emperor; The Emperor's New Clothes, * Hilary Nicholls; Viriditas Opera; York

  • Maria Magdalena; Quem Queritis; Viriditas Opera

  • Amor Celestis; Ordo Virtutum; Viriditas Opera

  • Isemene, Euridice; Antigone, * Jon Hughes; Viriditas Opera

  • Historicus; Jepthe, Carissimi; Eastman Collegium Musicum

  • Prince Hilarion; The 3 Princesses Project, * Gilbert & Sullivan (dir. Gayden Wren); International Gilbert & Sullivan Fest; Philadelphia

  • Carmen (scenes); Carmen, Bizet; York Opera Society

  • Dido (scenes); Dido & Aeneas, Purcell; York Opera Society

  • chorus; Maria Stuarda, Donizetti; Opera Sacra

  • chorus; Semele, Handel; (dir. Peter Seymour) York Chamber Choir

  • chorus; Olav Tryggvason, Grieg; Harvard Dudley House; Cambridge MA

  • chorus; Suor Angelica, Puccini (dir. Carlo Morganti); Oberlin in Italy; Urbania

SOLO/ ART SONGS

  • Contralto en travesti Soloist; Gelido in ogni vena, * Vivaldi; Ars Nova Musicians, Viva Vivaldi Fest

  • Alto Soloist; Verdi & Wagner bicentennial; Verdi 6 Romanze (1838), Opera Sacra

  • Singer, Choral Director; Copland And The Cold War; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

  • Tenor Soloist; Magnificat, * Isabella Leonarda; (dir. Richard Vendome) Vivaldi’s Women; Canterbury

  • Alto soloist; Neue Liebeslieder, Brahms; (dir. L. Brett Scott); Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus Chamber Chorus

  • Contralto, Co-Founder; Juniper (female trio), Young Artists in Residence, Harrogate International Festival

ORATORIOS/ CANTATAS/ MASSES

  • Tenor Soloist; Carmina Burana, Orff; Buffalo Master Chorale

  • Tenor Soloist; Mass in G, Schubert; Buffalo Master Chorale

  • Tenor and Alto Soloist; Christmas Oratorio, Bach; UU Church of Buffalo

  • Baritone Soloist: From Olivet to Calvary, JH Maunder; Clarence Presbyterian Church

  • Contralto Soloist headlining Vivaldi WinterFest; Clarae stellae scintillate, Nulla in mundo, Stabat Mater, Gelido in ogni vena and Filiae maestae Jerusalem; Music Niagara Festival, Atis Bankas (dir and violin); Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada

  • Alto Soloist; Magnificat, Bach; Bach & Beyond Festival, Fredonia Opera House

  • Tenor Soloist; Cantata 106 (Actus tragicus), Bach: Psalm 92, Schubert; UU Church of Buffalo

  • Alto Soloist; Stabat Mater, Caldara; Opera Sacra; Buffalo

  • Contralto Soloist; Un Vespro Venexiano (dir. Philip Thorby); Venice

  • Tenor Soloist; Vespers 1610, Monteverdi (dir. Philip Thorby); 400th Anniversary Concert; Venice

  • Alto soloist; Stabat Mater, Pergolesi (dir. G. Romagnoli); Trinacria Productions; York, Rome

  • Alto soloist; Messiah, Handel; Cheektowaga Community Symphony Orchestra

  • Alto soloist; Lamento di David, Mazzocchi; (dir. Paul O'Dette) Eastman Collegium Musicum

  • Alto soloist; Usquequo peccatores, Carissimi; Eastman Collegium Musicum

  • Soprano soloist; Musicalische Exequien, Schütz; Harvard Dudley House Chamber Choir

  • Soprano soloist; Mass in G Minor, Vaughan Williams; Harvard Dudley House Chamber Choir

  • Bass; Festival Mediterranea; (dir. Richard Vendome) Vivaldi's Women; Gozo, Malta

SECTION LEADER

  • Alto and Tenor Section Leaders; (dir. L. Brett Scott, JoAnn Falletta); Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus

  • Tenor Section Leader; Buffalo Master Chorale

  • Alto Section Leader; Trinity Episcopal Church Buffalo

  • Praise & Worship Singer; Prince of Peace Church of God

  • Tenor II Section Leader; Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus

  • Leader of Song; St. John's Grace Episcopal Church; Buffalo

  • Tenor Section Leader; St Paul's Schola Cantorum; Buffalo

DISCOGRAPHY