Sue Patchell has been interpreting the dramatic heroines of Wagner and Strauss on the stages of major opera houses with great success for many years.

After her spectacular debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as ISOLDE with Maestro James Levine conducting, she has become a regular guest there, singing SENTA in The Flying Dutchman, KAISERIN in Frau ohne Schatten, KASSANDRA in Les Troyens and SALOME. She was also engaged as FIDELIO and EMILIA MARTY.

The press not only praises her ‘warm voice, elegant appearance, and the perfect clarity of her voice’ but also her ‘extraordinary passion and dedication in the portrayal of her roles’.

One of her most-sung roles is ISOLDE, which she performed at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Brussels, at the Danish Royal Opera Copenhagen, in Trieste, Dortmund, Wiesbaden, Weimar, Mannheim, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona and in 2004 with Varley Gergiev at the Rotterdam-Festival. As CHRYSOSTHEMIS she roused enthusiasm at the Vienna State Opera, the Hamburg State, in Antwerp, at the Festival in Tel Aviv and in various Gala concerts. As SENTA Sue Patchell was very successful at the Opera di Roma ( Jeffrey Tate conducting), the Houston Grand Opera, in Torino and at the Hamburg State Opera. In Hamburg she also sang JENUFA.
Highlights of Sue Patchell's work at the Vienna State Opera include ELISABETH (Tannhäuser), EVA (Die Meistersinger), the MARSCHALLIN (Der Rosenkavalier), ELSA (Lohengrin) and SALOME. At the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona she also sang CHRYSOSTHEMIS (together with Eva Marton as Elektra), EVA in Meistersinger (with Bernd Weikl as Sachs) and ELSA in the production of Lohengrin by Götz Friedrich. As EVA Sue Patchell also celebrated great triumphs in Paris, Budapest and at the Opera House Bonn , where she also performed the FIDELIO-LEONORE.

The American soprano sang BRÜNNHILDE in Siegfried at the Opera House Nuremberg and at the Wagner Festival in Wels. In the Italian Premiere of Guntram from Richard Strauss at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, she was FREIHILD and she incarnated CASSANDRA in Les Troyens at the Leipzig Opera House and the Mannheim National Theatre.

The many distinguished conductors with whom Sue Patchell performs include James Levine, Gerd Albrecht, Sir Colin Davis, Jeffrey Tate, Ivan Anguélov, Heinz Fricke, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Donald Runnicles, Peter Schneider, Ulf Schrimer Stefan Soltesz, and many others. She has also worked with such famous stage directors as Ruth Berghaus, Dieter Dorn, Götz Friedrich, Achim Freyer, Dietrich Hilsdorf, David Pountny, etc.

Sue Patchell is also much sought-after on international stages as a Wagner and Strauss singer in concerts, and her repertoire includes The Four Last Songs, the Wesendonk songs and Isoldes Liebestod to name a few.