Soprano, Susan Benner-Bonito, began her musical training as a classical saxophonist at the age of twelve. She culminated her senior year of High School, by winning first chair in the National Honor Band, America’s Youth in Concert, and enjoyed the solo spotlight with that group in performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Rome, Florence, Venice, Salzburg, Paris, and London. She began her formal vocal training at the University of Southern California, where she studied with Nina Hinson, Madame Gwendolyn Koldofsky, and Natalie Lamonick. Ms. Bonito was the Central California Regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions and the Music Teachers Association VOCE Auditions, a finalist in the California Young Artist’s Competition sponsored by the Carmel Music Society, and a semifinalist in the Belvedere International Opera Auditions in Vienna, Austria.
Her professional credits include numerous solo performances with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, the Newport Music Festival, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, California Repertory Opera, Music from Bear Valley, Pippen’s Pocket Opera, Kensington Symphony, the McGilvray Chorale, and the San Francisco Chamber Singers. She was a featured soloist at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. She has performed with such distinguished conductors as Robert Shaw, Edo De Waart, Herbert Blomstedt, Neemi Järvi, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Nelson, Sir Charles Mackerras, Kurt Masur and Christopher Hogwood.
Concert tours have taken her to Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Alaska, and throughout the United States. Recording and film score collaborations include two Grammy-winning recordings with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, and the film soundtrack for Godfather, Part III with Carmine Copola conducting.
Ms. Bonito currently devotes much of her time to teaching voice, and continues to be in high demand as a teacher. She is Chair of the Voice Department at Indian Hill Music School in Littleton, Massachusetts, where she teaches private voice lessons, and directs the Summer Children’s Musical Theater Program. She is also on the voice faculty at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts. Ms. Bonito maintains a private voice studio in Mendon, Massachusetts, and is the Music Director at the United Parish of Upton.