About the Artist
Susan Sievert Messersmith, a native of northeast Ohio, is the daughter of two organists and grew up performing a good deal of solo trumpet repertoire with organ.
Susan began private trumpet studies in high school with Dr. Jack Gallagher at the College of Wooster. She completed the Bachelor of Music Degree at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music in 1990 (studying with James Darling and Mary Squire) and graduated summa cum laude, 1st in a class of 920 students. She also attended the Eastman School of Music (studying with Barbara Butler) where, in 1992, she earned a Master of Music in Performance and Literature, as well as the Performer’s Certificate. She then began postgraduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Michael Sachs.
In 1993, Susan won national auditions for Second Trumpet positions in both the Tucson Symphony and the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra. She signed a contract with the latter and began a 14-year tenure in that position.
In addition to her duties with the Charleston Symphony and CSO Brass Quintet, Ms. Messersmith has been an adjunct faculty member at Charleston Southern University since 1993 (where she teaches trumpet and directs the brass choir), and was a member and co-coordinator of the Spoleto Brass Quintet for many years.
She has performed with the San Antonio Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Canton (OH) Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony, the Wooster (OH) Symphony (with which she has also performed twice as soloist), the Savannah Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and the Hilton Head Orchestra. In the summers she is a member of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, and the Wintergreen Performing Arts Summer Music Festival, both in Virginia.
Prior to moving to Charleston, Ms. Messersmith performed in the National Orchestral Institute, the National Repertory Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, performing concerts in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Denmark.
In 2007, she decided to spend more time with family, and resigned from the CSO, though she can still often be seen on the stage playing extra and filling in when needed. She maintains a very busy freelancing and teaching schedule.
