Susan Gundunas,
Soprano
(1988 - 1992)

During the 2005 - 2006 season, SUSAN GUNDUNAS will appear as Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus) for Rimrock Opera of Billings, Montana and perform at the Other Words International Poetry Festival in the fall of 2005. In June of 2006, she will appear as soloist with Schola Cantorum in a performance of Vaughan William's Dona Nobis Pacem.

Engagements during the 2004 - 2005 season included two recitals of art songs in San Francisco at the Koret Auditorium and the Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church. Ms. Gundunas also recently released a CD entitled Life, Love, and Motherhood - a Celebration in Song and Poetry.

During the 2003 - 2004 season, Ms. Gundunas sang the role of Adina (L'elisir d'amore) for Sonoma City Opera, performed Grand Opera in Concert and Opera Goes to Church with Ensemble Vocalis in San Francisco, and sang the role of Ellen in the world premiere of Nosferatu with Rimrock Opera and Opera Idaho. Other engagements during the 2003 -2004 season included the role of Marie (La Fille du régiment) with Sonoma Opera.

2001 - 2002 engagements featured Ms. Gundunas at an 80th Birthday Concert Gala for poet/librettist Richard Wilbur, and in the role of Ellen in the Nosferatru showcase at The American Poetry Conference for the Samuel Barber Society, both in June 2001 in Pennsylvania. Ms. Gundunas appeared as Hanna in The Merry Widow for Pacific Repertory Opera in October 2001 and as Ellen in a full production of Nosferatu at Verse Theatre of Manhattan in the spring of 2002. When not on stage, she developed a solo show based on the life of New Zealand opera singer Mina Foley that premiered at the Mad River Festival in the fall of 2001.

In 1998 - 1999, she made her Opera Memphis debut as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), was a soloist in Vaughn-Williams’ Sea Symphony with Stanford Chorale, and sang in the world premiere of Alva Henderson’s Nosferatu at Western Slope Music Festival. In February 2000, she sang the role of Donna Anna with Nevada Opera followed by an appearance in the Leonard Bernstein revue, New York, New York, in San Francisco.

During 1995 - 1996, Ms. Gundunas made her Wagnerian debut as Freia (Das Rheingold) with  Wagner Society of Northern California, and appeared as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. She appeared as Musetta (La bohème) with Ventura Symphony and has been heard as a soloist in Mozart's C Minor Mass with symphony orchestras in Santa Cruz and Erie (Pennsylvania). Following a return engagement of Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg, she appeared in Don Giovanni with Apollo Opera, and in the title role of Madama Butterfly.

While a member of OSJ's resident company, Ms. Gundunas accepted a one-year contract from Hal Prince and performed the role of Carlotta in his Hamburg (Germany) production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. Mr. Prince heard auditions in Los Angeles, New York and London. Ms. Gundunas also performed operatic arias on National German Radio and Television, and she appeared in the Hamburg Musikhalle in an operatic concert.

While she is not performing, Ms. Gundunas is on the voice faculty at University of California (Berkeley) and maintains a private voice studio in San Francisco.