Suzannah Clarke BA Hons, MA Honorary, PG Dipl
BACKGROUND, TRAINING AND OPERA
Born and brought up in Middlesbrough, and now Ambassador for her town, Suzannah gained her BA Hons degree in Business Studies, worked for a year in British Steel at Redcar and Cleveland and then turned to opera!
After training at the Royal Northern College of Music and with Pavarotti's singing teacher Arrigo Pola, in Modena in Italy she has already performed as Principal at some of the top opera houses in the world including La Scala, Milan, the Hungarian State Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera as well as the Spoleto, Wexford, Batignano and Barbados Opera Festivals.
COMPETITIONS
A winner of several major international competitions in Italy and Spain, including the Francesco Viñas competition in Barcelona and the Concorso Adrianni Belli with Joan Sutherland judging, she has appeared on television in both countries in interviews in the native language.
ORCHESTRAS
Orchestra work has included appearances with the BBC Philharmonic and the BBC Concert Orchestras, the English Symphony, Royal Scottish, Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, the Northern Sinfonia and the Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona. She has worked with conductors including Jeffrey Tate, Yan Pascal Tortellier and Mark Elder.
TELEVISION AND RADIO
In England she has appeared regularly on TV in news programmes, Christmas Gala concerts, and the BBC Songs of Praise, as well as a number of light entertainment shows.
Most recently she was on several BBC Inside Out Programmes, sang from Althorp in a programme about Princess Diana, appeared across Europe in a Gala Concert for the Hungarian State Opera before Heads of State and is about to appear in a BBC Three documentary on North Korea.
Recent radio work has included interviews for Radio 4 - Home Truths, Midweek, Woman's Hour, recitals on Radio 3, and appearing as a regular panellist on current affairs for BBC Radio 5 Live.
FOOTBALL
Suzannah sang at the closing of her home club of Middlesbrough's old ground Ayresome Park.
She has represented her country many times and led the celebrations at the Opening Ceremony of the Euro 96 Football Championships, singing to around 70,000 at Wembley but to over 440 million watching around the world. She sang both anthems for the England v Slovakia game and the England v Albania World Cup Qualifier, singing the Albanian anthem in the native tongue - which was well received by both the Albanian team, the British Press and Sven Goran Erikson!
NORTH KOREA
Suzannah was the first British performer to be invited to North Korea in 2003. She sang in a series of recitals in the capital city Pyongyang to promote friendship, several of her songs were in the Korean language.
Since her visit she has become famous in the country and has returned several times. She hopes to encourage cultural exchange between Britain and North Korea (see menu - North Korea for more details).
HEAVY METAL OPERA - STEELWORKERS' CHORUS
In 2004 Suzannah went back to the steel
works where she was once employed and visited the Blast Furnace to ask if anyone would like to sing some opera? After convincing them it was not a joke she formed a chorus of 10 who are now "Heavy Metal Opera."
They have already appeared in a newly commissioned children's opera and sang the Red Flag and Jerusalem on stage at the close of the Labour Party Conference in 2004. But their sights are set higher still...watch this space! (See menu for more details and Press Release).
UNIVERSITY OF TEESSIDE
Suzannah was delighted to receive an Honorary MA from the University of Teesside, and was particularly pleased that Brian Clough was also receiving an Honorary Degree at the same time!
Suzannah is a member of Community Union and the Labour Party
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