Susan Ruggiero
Assistant Professor of Music
sruggiero@wmcarey.edu
(601) 318-6182
Department: Music
Dr. Susan Ruggiero is an active performer and educator based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She has been described as having a voice that is“stunning and pure”—State News, East Lansing, Michigan. Ruggiero has performed as a principal artist with New Orleans Opera, Natchez Festival Opera, Shreveport Opera, Mississippi Opera, Opera South, Blue Lake Opera, Wildwood Opera Theatre, Kentucky Opera, and Opéra Louisiane. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards including: Shreveport Opera’s Singer of the Year Competition, Mozart Award in the National Orpheus Vocal Competition, and district winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
An active recitalist, Ruggiero performs regularly both as a soloist and chamber musician. With Accento Trio, a group she founded with flutist Danilo Mezzadri and pianist Elizabeth Moak, she has performed concerts at Scuola Musicale di Milano and Sala San Tommaso del Palazzo Boncompagni-Roccasecca in Italy, The Natchez Music Festival, FestivalSouth, and many other venues throughout the United States. As a concert artist, Ruggiero has soloed with the Festival Orchestra at Festival Música nas Montanhas in Poços de Caldas, Brazil, the Universidade Federal do Paraná, and Escola de Música et Belas-Artes do Paraná.
Dr. Ruggiero is an Assistant Professor of Music at William Carey University and she serves on faculty at Festival Música nas Montanhas and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Louisiana State University, a double Master of Music in Voice and Flute Performance from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Michigan State University. Dr. Ruggiero enjoys yoga, cooking, and spending time with her husband Danilo and their two children Giuseppe and Gabriella.