Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as having a voice of “extraordinary passion and power” and “grand but emotionally transparent characterizations”, Susana continues to have an active career as a soloist on concert and opera stages.

In spring of 2018 Ms. Poretsky performed a series of concerts throughout Israel with the Ashdod Symphony under the baton of Maestro Vaq Papian, followed by two outstanding performances with the Russian Chamber Arts Society in Washington, DC, including the debut of a concert version of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. She also enchanted San Diego continuously during the year with her extraordinary performances through International Academy of Vocal Arts, bringing remarkable singers such as the internationally acclaimed Denis Sedov and Evgeny Shapovalov and world renowned vocal coach Yelena Kurdina for a master class co-sponsored by Metropolitan Opera National Committee San Diego and IAVA.

Born and educated in Lvov, Ukraine, Susana emigrated to Israel in 1990 . She continued to study singing at the IVAI (International Vocal Arts Institute) where she was fortunate to meet and work with some of the greatest teachers and coaches from the Metropolitan Opera and other theaters… Among them Elena Obraztsova, Alfredo Kraus, Patricia McCaffrey, Joan Dornemann, Yelena Kurdina, Nico Castel. IVAI became a launching pad for her career. She moved to the USA in 2001 and made San Diego her home.

Ms. Poretsky’s career highlights include winning Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition in 1998 followed by Gala concerts with Maestro Domingo in Japan. Among the mezzo-soprano’s American performances are Suzuki in Madame Butterfly with the Los Angeles Opera, Pauline in The Queen of Spades with both the LA Opera and Washington National Opera, the title role of Carmen with the Fort Worth Opera, Fenena in Nabucco, Margaret in Wozzeck and Anna in Maria Stuarda with San Diego Opera, and concert performances of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mlada with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, Maddalena in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as productions of Otello, The Queen of Spades, Die Ägyptische Helena, and Eugene Onegin. She has also been a frequent guest of the Opera Orchestra of New York. Since her American debut with the organization she has sung with Eve Queler in five different concert opera productions at Carnegie Hall.

In Europe, Ms. Poretsky has been heard in performances of War and Peace at the Opéra national de Paris, production that was awarded the Grand Prix of French Opera and commercially released on a DVD, as Adalgisa in Norma and Charlotte in Werther at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Fenena in Nabucco at the Arena di Verona, the title role in Carmen at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (after having sung the same role in Japan and South Africa). She made her La Scala debut in Ariadne auf Naxos under Giuseppe Sinopoli’s baton and at the Mannheim National Theater as Marina Mnishek in Boris Godunov. Additional European Operatic credits include Cherubino in Le Nozze de Figaro at Liguria Summer Festival in Italy, Orlovsky in Der Fledermaus with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with the Rome Opera, Adalgisa in Norma with the New Israeli Opera.

Also active on the concert stage, Ms. Poretsky has appeared with every major orchestra in Israel, performing most recently with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. She was invited to sing Leonard Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony for the composer’s 75th birthday and sang the same piece as her New York Philharmonic debut, as well as at L’Orchestre de Paris. She has joined the Pacific Symphony for performances of Tchaikovsky’s Lullaby in a Storm, and Ravel’s Chansons Madagascar, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Additionally, she premiered Leonard Desyantanikov’s Russian Seasons with the New York City Ballet and has sung the same piece with the San Francisco Ballet, Het Ballet in the Netherlands, and Canada National Ballet.