A Chicago area native, Colorado Symphony Orchestra bassist Susan Cahill graduated from Indiana University. While at Indiana she studied with some of the great double bassists of our time. Her teachers included Murray Grodner, Stuart Sankey, Lawrence Hurst and Bruce Bransby. After returning to Chicago, Susan was selected from among many young players to join Sir George Solti’s Orchestral Project at Carnegie Hall. The project combined young players with principals from the top five Orchestras in the nation, and all performances and rehearsals were conducted by Maestro Solti. London Decca recorded and released the concerts, which number among Sir George Solti’s last.
Before joining the Colorado Symphony, Susan was Principal Bass of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans. While in New Orleans, Susan taught Double Bass at Tulane University. She has an active teaching career and has given Masterclasses at the University of Colorado and the University of Northern Colorado. She has also taught at the University of Colorado during the 2002 and 2001 and 2007 school years. From 2006-2009 Susan served on the faculty of The Metropolitan State College of Denver; in 2009, she began teaching at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver.Since joining the CSO in 1997, she was appointed Acting Assistant Principal during the 2002 and 2003 seasons and has been active in chamber music and festivals in the West and elsewhere.
Susan became a core member with the Colorado Chamber Players in 2009, and has also performed with Strings in the Mountains in Steamboat Springs, the Santa Fe Pro Musica, and the Peter Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. Susan has also been a solo performer with a number of ensembles, and recently performed the Bottesinni Concerto with the Colorado College Summer Festival. Other performances have included performing with Up Close and Musical. In the summer of 2002 she performed as soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and in 2003, Susan performed as soloist with the Colorado Young Sinfonia.
In addition to performing with the noted Denver tango ensemble, Extasis, she enjoys performing and touring with her sister, Beth Cahill, who is a singer-songwriter. Together they have performed at Swallow Hill in Denver, as well as various other venues in the West and throughout Canada. With the wildly popular band, Boulder Acoustic Society, Susan made her recording debut as a cellist on their release entitled 8th Color.
