Winner of the 1994 Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award, the soprano Susan Gritton read botany at Oxford and London Universities, subsequently attending singing courses at the Britten-Pears School and the National Opera Studio, and gaining formative experience with the Finzi Singers, Monteverdi Choir and Glyndebourne Chorus whilst studying privately with David Mason and Jonathan Papp. Now recognised as one of the finest and most versatile singers of her generation, she has performed in concert and opera with conductors such as Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Antonio Pappano, Bernard Haitink, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Richard Hickox, Steuart Bedford, and Sir Roger Norrington. A noted interpreter of Britten’s music, she has appeared as the Governess (The Turn of the Screw) in Aldeburgh, Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring) at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Tiny (Paul Bunyan) at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) at Opera Australia and Teatro alla Scala, Milan. She has also sung at English National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, and Opéra de Montréal, among others, in a repertoire that stretches from Handel via Mozart and Bizet to Puccini, Janácek, Strauss, and Poulenc. Her vast discography has earned her two Grammy nominations and includes, for Chandos, recordings of works by Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Medtner, Vaughan Williams, Verdi, and Smetana.