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Died:
- Composer. A prolific artist who published around 200 works, he shall probably be best remembered for his five operas, most particularly the 1973 "Transformations". Raised in the Pittsburgh suburbs, he studied music at what is now Carnegie Mellon University but did not really make a final career choice until earning his graduate degree from New York's Juilliard School, thereafter showing his sense of humor by listing among his teachers P.D.Q. Bach, in reality a fictional creation of the comedic musicologist Peter Schickele. In 1959, while still at Juilliard, Susa assumed the part-time post of composer in residence at the Old Globe Theater of San Diego while also serving as pianist for the Pittsburgh Symphony. Though his primary duty was writing incidental music for Shakespearean stage productions, he composed for a number of Broadway plays including a 1968 revival of Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" and a 1977 presentation of George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra". His first opera and best known work was the 1973 "Transformations", a setting to music of poetess Anne Sexton's reworking of "Grimm's Fairy Tales". Produced on commission for and given its May 5, 1973 world premiere by the Minnesota Opera with a then little-known Catherine Malfitano in the cast, the piece has received numerous revivals and been presented in multiple venues including the Spoleto and Wexford Festivals. Over the years he wrote, often within a single composition, in styles ranging from Baroque to jazz and all points in between, his other operas including the 1975 "Black River: A Wisconsin Idyll", a dark tale set in the northwoods, 1984's "The Love of Don Perlimplin", the story of the romantic adventures of an old fool, and the 1994 religious-themed "The Wise Women", a look at the journey of the Magi from the viewpoint of their wives. A professor at the San Faracisco Conservatory from 1988 on, he kept his job in San Diego until 1994 and continued writing, producing the 1992 "Carols and Lullibies: Christmas in the Southwest", an oft-performed companion piece to Benjamin Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols". Susa's final major work was "The Dangerous Liaisons", an account of romantic entanglements in the 18th century French Court which was premiered by the San Francisco Opera on September 10, 1994 starring Frederica von Stade, Renee Fleming, and Thomas Hampson, and was later broadcast on PBS. Increasingly frail over his last year due to injuries suffered in a fall, he remained sharp and continued working every day; at his death, much of his legacy continued to receive performances.
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1935 - 2013 (78 years)
