With a passion for discovery, wide-ranging interests and exceptional musicianship, soprano Susan Narucki has enjoyed extraordinary collaborations, earning special recognition as a champion of the music of our time. In a career that spans over twenty years, she has presented over one hundred world premieres in opera, concert and recording. In spring 2010, Narucki is directing the new vocal ensemble Kallisti in a premiere performance on May 26, 27, and 28, of French composer Pascal Dusapin’s chamber opera To Be Sung. Highlights of recent seasons include: works of Elliott Carter with James Levine and MET Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, Stravinsky’s Les Noces with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, music of Gerard Grisey with the Orchestra of Radio France at the Cite de la Musique and Vivier’s Trois Airs with Reinbert de Leeuw and the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Her portrayal of Mama in Carter’s ‘What Next?’ (directed by Christopher Alden) was praised by the New York Times as “compelling and luminous”. Ms. Narucki has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony (both in San Francisco and at Carnegie Hall) Residentie Orchestra of the Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Concentus Musicus Wien, and New World Symphony, with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson Thomas, Herbert Blomstedt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Vladimir Ashkenazy,and Oliver Knussen. The soprano has been a featured soloist with contemporary music ensembles across the globe, including the Asko/Schoenberg, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Nieuw Ensemble, ELISION, SMCQ, Remix, ICE, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Speculum Musicae, NYNME and Collage. She has been a frequent guest of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series and of the Making Music Series at Carnegie Hall; as part of that series, she presented Kurtag’s monumental cycle Kafka Fragments with violinist Daniel Phillips, in a concert honoring the composer. Ms. Narucki made her Netherlands Opera debut creating the role of Catherina Bolnes in Writing to Vermeer, the collaboration of composer Louis Andriessen, film director Peter Greenaway and stage director Saskia Boddeke, and traveled with the production to the Adelaide and Lincoln Center Festivals. She was featured in the world premiere of Claude Vivier’s ‘Rèves d’un Marco Polo’. Of her performance, Vrij Nederland wrote “...one name we will never forget: Susan Narucki, the American soprano, who gave us all goosebumps and moved us to tears.” The Netherlands Opera production, directed by Pierre Audi, was filmed for European broadcast. With T&M of Paris, Ms. Narucki gave the premiere of To Be Sung (the collaboration of composer Pascal Dusapin and American artist James Turrell), which had more than fifty performances throughout Europe. The soprano’s recent festival appearances include the Cabrillo Festival with Marin Alsop, the Ojai Festival with Peter Etvos, and the Ars Musica Festival in a world premiere of Maurizio Kagel. She has appeared at major European festivals in Paris, Warsaw, Torino, London, Vienna, Lisbon, Munich and Amsterdam. A distinguished chamber musician, she has been a guest at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Yellow Barn, and has appeared with the Brentano Quartet, the Orion Quartet and the Schoenberg String Quartet. Her numerous recital appearances include Kleine Zaal in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Princeton University, American Academy in Rome,and at Yale University with pianist Boris Berman. Her longtime interest in bringing modern music to audiences outside the concert hall was brought to life in “Chance Encounter” which she co-conceived with composer Lisa Bielawa and which received a grant from Creative Capital Foundation. Narucki and The Knights presented the world premiere of the work, to be performed in public spaces, in 2007, with subsequent performances at the Whitney Museum of Art. Susan Narucki earned both Grammy and Cannes awards (music of George Crumb) and a Grammy nomination (Best Classical Vocal Performance) for Elliott Carter’s Tempo e Tempi, all on Bridge Records. The soprano’s extensive discography includes operas of Andreissen on Nonesuch, music of Mario Davidovsky on Bridge and Arabesque and song cycles of Aaron Jay Kernis on Koch. Her performance of Jacob Druckman’s Salome with the Aspen Festival Orchestra was included in a two-CD set commemorating the Festival’s 50th Anniversary Ms. Narucki’s most recent release, The Light that Is Felt: Songs of Charles Ives, with pianist Donald Berman on New World Records, was an Editor’s Choice of BBC Music Magazine. Ms. Narucki has been a guest faculty member of Yale University and is currently Professor of Music at UC San Diego.