About

Susan Halpern, Founder and Principal

I have spent my life with music. During the summers of my youth, I either could be found at music camp or listening to music at Tanglewood. I then studied music and literature at Sarah Lawrence College where I played chamber music, was solo flute in the orchestra, sang in the college chorus, and was a charter member of the Westchester Chorale. After college, I played in pick-up orchestras as a freelance flutist and sang in the New York Choral Society. I played solo flute in the Westchester Philharmonic and was a student of Samuel Baron. Always active in music, after finishing a doctorate in English and publishing a book on the modern Irish poet Austin Clarke, I taught flute lessons and played chamber music while teaching English on the college level. I am still singing (now in the New Chorale Society of Westchester) and playing the flute avocationally. I also served as President of the Scarsdale Friends of Music and the Arts, an organization furthering musical performance in the community.

I inherited a love of music from my family. I, too, spent my summers at music camp and Tanglewood, and my weekends, evenings, and early mornings in rehearsals. Trained as a classical soprano, I studied voice at New England Conservatory and Juilliard with Edward Zambara and Cynthia Hoffman. I earned my BA in music from Columbia University, and two culture-focused masters degrees in Europe. Professionally, I combine over 15 years of expertise in culture and communications with experience that ranges from singing with The New York Philharmonic to cooking at Chez Panisse. While music remains central to my life, in addition to working at Halpern Program Notes, I run my own business, which offers messaging, copywriting, branding, and web-design to creatives and solopreneurs.