Susanne Kelling has been internationally active as an opera and concert singer for two decades since her first engagement in the “Junge Ensemble” of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Today she is a professor of singing at the Nuremberg University of Music.
Susanne Kelling first studied violoncello at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and, after her violoncello exam, singing with Prof. Klesie Kelly.
Already during this time, Susanne Kelling came to the attention of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and engaged the mezzo-soprano in the “Junge Ensemble”.
Since this engagement, she has made repeated guest appearances at the opera houses in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Tokyo, the San Carlo Opera House in Naples, G. Verdi in Trieste, Carlo Felice in Genoa, Teatro Regio in Turin, Fondazione dell`Arena di Verona, “La Fenice” in Venice and the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich.
The mezzo-soprano was appointed full professor for the artistic main subject of singing at the Nuremberg University of Music in 2014. In 2017, she was elected Vice-President of the Nuremberg University of Music by the University Council (2017 to 2021).
She also regularly gives master classes at the Holzhauser Musiktage on Lake Starnberg, the European Academy of Music in Montepulciano, the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in Venice, the Talent Music Summer Courses in Brescia and the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence.
Prof. Susanne Kelling has been awarded the Italian Federal Cross of Merit for her services in the field of intercultural German-Italian relations, as well as her successes in Italian opera houses, and was knighted with the “Ordine della stella della solidarietà italiana”.
Another highlight of her career was the request of Pope Benedict XVI to sing “The Seven Last Words” by J. Haydn in a version for string quartet and mezzo-soprano together with the Henschel Quartet at the Vatican on the occasion of his name day. The concert was broadcast live by Eurovision, and the accompanying CD was released as a world premiere recording.
