Concert With Susan Gouthro And Arlene Shrut At Charlotte Sep 17
Tue, Sep 17, 2024 | 7:30pm
9119 University Road, Charlotte, NC 28223
New Assistant Professor of Voice Susan Gouthro opens the UNC Charlotte Department of Music‘s Faculty & Friends Concerts Series with guest pianist Arlene Shrut. The program features songs and arias by Debussy, Brahms, Strauss, Livingston, Dvořák, and Gounod.
Artists’ Bios
For over a decade Susan Gouthro was engaged as a soprano soloist on a full-time contract at the opera house in Kiel, Germany. Here she performed many of the most important roles in the lyric soprano repertoire and had many opportunities to perform as a guest at other German houses, including the opera companies in Cologne, Würzburg, Bremen, Lübeck, Dessau, Hagen, and Kassel. An avid concert and recital performer, she performed in many oratorios and was a featured artist in diverse Lieder Abende and chamber music concerts. In the 2015/2016 season, Susan Gouthro was celebrated as the opera-diva Carlotta in the musical The Phantom of the Opera in Germany, singing eight shows a week for a total of over 300 performances in a production that was cast and rehearsed by the creative team from Phantom on Broadway.
Having studied and performed contemporary music at The Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, The Britten-Pears School in England, and on the opera stage in Germany, Susan Gouthro has been lately delving into new music from her home country, Canada. Researching and performing music by living composers has become one of her passions.
Collaborative pianist and vocal coach Arlene Shrut is heralded as a steward for the artistic traditions of classical music as well as a visionary for its future. Hailed by The New York Times as a “strong and sensitive pianist,” Arlene was also named inaugural “Coach of the Year” by Classical Singer Magazine.
Shrut has served as an official pianist and judge for international opera competitions in New York City and as an official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont District Auditions in Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, as well as Regional Auditions in Atlanta.
After 27 years on the vocal arts faculty at The Juilliard School, Shrut joined the faculty at UNC Greensboro in 2018 as vocal coach. Shrut was also on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music for many years as a coach to singer-pianist duos and served on the faculty of the Aspen Festival for 14 summers. Since 2014, she has been a member of the artist faculty of The Source Song Festival and mentor to the singer-pianist duos. She also cherishes ongoing performance collaborations with the Defiant Requiem Foundation. Her large discography is represented at www.arleneshrut.com.
In 2023, Shrut joined the Board of Trustees of The Gerda Lissner Foundation. The Sorel Organization presented her with its first Sorel Legacy Medallion, which recognizes the work of female artists whose careers reflect lifetime achievement in music.