Suzanna Guzmán (born in East Los Angeles, California) is an American mezzo-soprano and Emmy Award winning television host. Currently she is the host of the weekly radio program Opera at Noon and On Broadway on 105.1HD4 KMozart. She was also seen as host on television's KCET's weekly series Open Call. As a singer she has performed with international and American opera companies as a principal artist: La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, La favorite in Montpellier, France, and Goya at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. She is known for her portrayal of the title role in Carmen for Houston Grand Opera's multimedia production (known as the "MTV Carmen"), a role she has performed more than 200 times. Recent appearances have been with Spoleto Festival USA, SIFA- Singapore Festival of the Arts, Opera Santa Barbara, Los Angeles Philharmonic and with Latino Theatre Company for 17 seasons as La Virgen in the annual pageant Diós Inatzin: La Virgen de Tepeyac.
Biography
he made her stage debut in 1982 with the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts in a touring company of Se Necesíta Costureras con Experiencia with Dame Carmen Zapata. Later that year she became a member of San Diego's Old Globe Theater's Educational Tour under Craig Noel, David McClellan and Jack O'Brien. She began her career in Musical Theatre with California regional companies (Sacramento Music Circus, Lyric Dinner Theatre, Grand Dinner Theatre) and appeared in the role of Amazon No. 2 with Yul Brynner on his final national tour and 4000th performance of The King and I, and Carousel directed by Jamie Hammerstein at the Kennedy Center. She gained entrance to opera as winner of several competitions, San Francisco Opera, Guild Opera, Fuchs, Zachary and in 1985 she entered the Metropolitan Opera Competition, and tied for first place of the Western Region with Deborah Voigt. As a national finalist, she met two important impresarios: Ian Campbell (San Diego Opera) and Francis Rizzo, (Washington Opera). In 1985 she made her operatic debut as the voice of Antonia's Mother in San Diego Opera's production of The Tales of Hoffmann starring Nelly Miricioiu, James Morris, Judith Forst and conducted by Theo Alcántara and has sung as a principal artist in nearly every season since then until her most recent performance of the Page in Salome with Lise Lindstrom. Performances in San Diego have included: Maddalena in Rigoletto Eunice in A Streetcar Named Desire Cornelia in Giulio Cesare Third Lady in The Magic Flute Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Patricia Racette
Concurrently it was Frank Rizzo of Washington Opera who hired her for ten consecutive seasons with Washington Opera including a successful run as the title role in Carmen. It was there, at the Kennedy Center, that she first worked with the opera composer/director Giancarlo Menotti on his new opera Goya, broadcast live for PBS (with Plácido Domingo), which led to further collaborations including new productions of The Saint of Bleecker Street, and Amahl and the Night Visitors, for which she was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress.