Susan Hochmiller
Associate Professor of Voice
Sunderman Conservatory of Music
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Dr. Susan Hochmiller, soprano, is an accomplished performer of chamber music, art song, oratorio, opera, musical theater, and jazz. Performance highlights include singing at the Teatro Mancinelli in Orvieto, Italy, Carnegie Hall with the Susquehanna University Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, in the Mozart 101 Series with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Bach Ensemble, concerts with the Music, Gettysburg! series, and numerous recitals in Italy and across the United States. She has been the soprano soloist for many concert works, including Orff’s Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams’s Hodie, Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis, Schubert’s Mass in C and Mass in G, and Bach’s St. John Passion. Opera roles have included Joanne in the premiere of Charles Strouse’s opera The West, Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, Le Feu in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and First Spirit in Die Zauberflöte.
A fervent advocate for chamber music, Dr. Hochmiller is a dedicated chamber recitalist and a co-founder of Aire Duo, a collaborative ensemble for soprano and trumpet. She is also recognized as an author, having written So You Want To Sing Chamber Music: A Guide for Performers, which is part of the esteemed So You Want To Sing series produced by the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) published by Rowman & Littlefield. Her debut album, Art Songs and Duets by Women Composers from the Classical and Early Romantic Eras, was released by Centaur Records in August 2022.
Dr. Hochmiller has shared her expertise on chamber music at National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conventions, College Music Society National Conferences, and the Music by Women Festival. Additionally, she has presented on various topics at the PMEA/NAfME Eastern Division Conference, the Classical Singer National Convention and Expo, the Colorado Music Educators Association Conference, and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 8 Choral Festival. As an active member of NATS since 2007, Dr. Hochmiller served as president of the Allegheny Mountain Chapter from 2016 to 2019. In 2012, she was selected to participate in the NATS Intern Program, which invites twelve voice teachers from the United States and Canada.
Dr. Hochmiller's dedication to teaching and mentoring is evident through the achievements of her students. They have received numerous accolades in both Classical and Musical Theatre divisions at District and Regional NATS Student Auditions in Pennsylvania and Colorado, and have reached the national semi-finals at the Classical Singer Competition. Her students have been accepted into competitive graduate and summer programs and have had the privilege of performing with professional opera companies and musical organizations.
Susan Hochmiller holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Susquehanna University. She served as director of Orvieto Musica’s Art of Song summer vocal chamber music festival in Orvieto, Italy from 2013-2023, and was on the voice faculty at Colorado State University, Dickinson College, and the New York State Summer School of the Arts, School of Choral Studies. Currently, she holds the positions of Associate Professor of Music, Coordinator of Vocal Studies, and Director of Opera Workshop at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. In 2021, she received the Dr. Ralph Cavaliere Endowed Teaching Award for excellence in teaching.