Conrad Susa

American composer Conrad Susa was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania on 26 April 1935. He studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology and with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti at the Juilliard School of Music.

He was chair of the composition department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1988, and resident composer for the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Other jobs included being staff pianist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and assistant editor of Musical America magazine.

Susa was particularly known for his operas - Black River, The Love of Don Perlimplin, The Wise Women and The Dangerous Liaisons. His first opera, Transformations, with text based on poetry by Anne Sexton, is one of the most often performed American operas, and it was featured at Wexford in 2006.

Conrad Susa died on 21 November 2013, aged seventy-eight.

A selection of articles about Conrad Susa

Ensemble. No Lack of Stylistic Variety - Mike Wheeler listens to music for two harps and various percussion from the Chroma Harp Duo