After an early musical education, she studied musicology along with foreign languages, followed by a business training. Born in Cologne, she worked for fifteen years as opera director of the Bregenz Festival. Operating closely with the artistic directors and the creative teams, she was responsible for selecting the singers for the festival productions on the lake stage as well as all the other festival venues.
Susanne Schmidt started her career in the Artists & Repertoire sector of the recording industry in New York, Hamburg and London until she moved to the Teatro la Fenice as Head of Casting and the Artistic Administration.
With the season 2021/22, Susanne Schmidt has started working as Casting Director for the Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp and Ghent and continues to advise the Bregenz Festival as Casting Consultant.
