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The first few years in her operatic career were in smaller and character parts, such as the First Niece in Britten Peter Grimes, Frasquita in Bizet Carmen, Clarine and Thalie in Rameau Platée, Xenia in Mussorgsky Boris Godunov, Sister Constance in Poulenc Dialogues des Carmelites, the Mermaid in Weber Oberon, and Tiny in Britten Paul Bunyan. She sang Belinda in Purcell Dido and Aeneas at the Berlin Staatsoper, the Governess in Britten The Turn of the Screw and Lucia in Britten The Rape of Lucretia in the Aldeburgh Festival under Steuart Bedford’s direction, Susanna in Mozart Le nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni for the Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas.
Susan became known as a reliable recording artist early in her career. On the Tring label she sang the soprano part in Górecki Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), the part of Miss Wordsworth in the Collins Classics recording under Steuart Bedford of Britten Albert Herring, a set of Holst songs for the same label, Vivaldi Ottone in Villa on Chandos with Hickox conducting, several Purcell discs, sacred music of Handel and Handel Deborah and Occasional Oratorio with the King’s Consort on Hyperion, and, on Deutsche Grammophon, Handel Solomon (as the Queen of Sheba) and Messiah as well as Beethoven’s little-known Vestas Feuer.