Suzanne Summerville, Dr. phil.

 Mezzo-soprano, Choral Conductor and Music Historian

Education

Dr. phil. in Historical Musicology from the Freie Universität Berlin (Dr. Rudolf Stephan)
   Dissertation: Johann Ludwig Freydt (1748-1807): A Moravian Composer

Diploma in Lied und Oratorio from the Vienna Academy of Music (Dr. Erik Werba)
   Diplom "mit Auszeichnung"

Masters in Music from the University of Houston
   Thesis: Das italienische Liederbuch

Bachelor of Arts in Music from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College

Fulbright Scholar (London)

Singer and Conductor

Performances with the Houston Grand Opera Association and the Studio der deutschen Oper Berlin, as alto soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony, and in Bach cantatas presented by Festival Musica Bayreuth.

Recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church and many other venues in the United States, Germany, Holland, Poland, France, Norway and Canada.

Founder in 1980 of the Fairbanks' Sing-It-Yourself-Messiah and in 2007 the 28th annual event was held. More than 156 community soloists have taken part in the performances.

More than 100 commissions of new works for adult chorus, children’s choir, voice and piano, and voice with clarinet and piano.

Teacher and Professor

John F. Kennedy-Schule Berlin

University of Alaska Fairbanks
Professor of Music and Women’s Studies

Conducted the Fairbanks Choral Society, the Fairbanks Children’s Choir, and taught Voice, Music History and Women in Music.

Editor

Compositions by Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn) from her manuscripts extent in the Prussian State Library   Berlin. Vocal music to the poetry of Goethe, Heinrich Heine, Wilhelm Müller, Lord Byron, Mary Alexander’s translations of Heine, Hölty, Florian, Liederkreis, Clemens Brentano  and Goethe’s Faust.

Songs by Women Composers based on Lord Byron’s Poetry in English, German and Norwegian

Songs to the Poetry of Adelbert von Chamisso by Women Composers

poetryALASKAwomen

The Poetry of Twenty-eight Alaskan Women Poets

Research

Academic Publications

Fanny Hensel’s Setting of Goethe’s Faust II
 California State University Dominquez Hills’ Press, 2008

Encyclopedia Articles

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2000
 Fairbanksan Robert M. Crawford, composer of "Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder"

Women Composers: Music Through the Ages
  Emilie Zumsteeg (Vol. 4)
  Johanna Kinkel (Vol. 7)
  Anna Teichmüller (Vol. 7)

Women and Music in America since 1900 (2002)
  Women Choral Conductors

Encyclopedia of Popular Music in the World (2003)
  Popular Music in Alaska

International Dictionary of Opera, St. James Press (1993)
  Frida Leider
  Elisabeth Grümmer
  Elisabeth Höngen
  Erna Berger
  Maria Ivogün
  Ernst Häfliger

Artistic Director

August 9-14, 1993     musicALASKAwomen
  An International Festival dedicated to Compositions by Women Composers.
  The works of 118 women composers were presented during the 5 day event.

Christmas 1992     A Mass for Winter Solstice
  Music Director and One of Eight Composers.
  Poetry and Music by Alaskan Poets and Composers.
  Concert broadcast via Alaska's statewide satellite and National Public Radio's
  “Performance Today.”

August 1991     A Festival for Fanny
  Artistic Director, Conductor and Recitalist.
  First modern performances of music by Fanny Hensel from manuscripts extant in the
  Mendelssohn-Archiv, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

Awards

The American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) CHORUS AMERICA Award for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music

The Alaska Governor’s Award for the Arts.

A Citation from the 18th Legislature of the State of Alaska for musicALASKAwomen.

The Alaska State Council on the Arts

The Alaska Humanities Forum 

The Fairbanks Arts Association 

The National Endowment for the Humanities

Randolph-Macon Woman’s College: Alumnae Achievement Award