Susan Kirkpatrick grew up in Pittsford, New York and played violin as a young person in her high school orchestra and in the Rochester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.  She had a youthful thrill, shaking hands with Isaac Stern when he performed in Rochester.

She attended the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Colorado State University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Political Science. While she was at work on her Ph.D., she served on the Fort Collins City Council and then as the city’s first directly elected Mayor.  A trip to Denver with some municipal finance friends to attend an Opera Colorado performance of Otello awakened her love of opera. Susan worked as a professor of Political Science, as the state director for the National Audubon Society, and as the Executive Director of the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) under former Governor Bill Ritter.  She also owned Savory Spice in Fort Collins, a retail spice store until she retired in 2021. In addition, she served on the inaugural board of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) in 1993, which is when
she discovered Steamboat. “I was captivated by the community spirit,” she says.

Susan and her husband currently share their time between Steamboat and Fort Collins when they are not traveling. She has enjoyed opera performances in New York, Santa Fe, Vienna, and Venice as well as in Denver and Steamboat Springs. She is especially interested in new works of opera. Susan joined the Opera Steamboat Board in 2022, and she looks forward to hearing from audience members about their interests and musical passions.