Susan Bamford Caleo
Voice and Body Awareness – specialising in embodied, extended and extreme vocal approaches
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- Performer – Singer and Actor
- Singing and Vocal Coach
- Accredited Roy Hart Voice Centre Teacher
- Certified Vocal Combat Technique Trainer
- Certified Vocal Massage Therapist
I am a performer and voice teacher based in Naarm/Melbourne. I am excited by experiments in transdisciplinary musical composition and exploratory performance with a focus on embodied, extended and extreme physiovocal work.
Since the mid-90s I have been investigating the expressive potential of the voice and the body and have extensive experience creating new music and performance works for the embodied voice both in live production and recordings. My explorations and experiments with extended voice have been deeply influenced by my past and ongoing association with exploratory voice practitioners internationally and in Australia, including; Linda Wise, Enrique Pardo (Pantheatre), Jonathan Hart-Makwia, Saule Ryan, Carol Mendelsohn and Vicente Fuentes (Roy Hart Voice Centre), Jorge Parente (Zygmunt Molik Voice and Body Work) Loris Synan, Frankie Armstrong, Monica Pagneaux, Dawn Langman, Helen Sharp and John Howard (Body Voice Projects), Al Wunder (Theatre of the Ordinary), Song of the Goat (Poland), and Catherine Fitzmaurice.
Some of my recent performance work includes: collaborations with Elissa Goodrich, Margaret Mills and Gina Gascoigne: ‘Unravel_Reckoning’ (La Mama 2022) and ‘Fragments’ (La Mama 2017); collaborations with Isabel Knight for ‘Cabaretica’ at La Mama Theatre (2019 – 2022) and ‘Limbo’ (2023); Elliot Perlman’s ‘Catvinkle’ audio books for Penguin Random House (2020), contributing with Karen Berger to the ‘Sound Walks festival (2020); performance in Geoff Robinson’s ‘Itinerant Sounds’ for Liquid Architecture (2018), co-creation and performance of audio tour for ‘Hyper Real’ at the National Gallery of Australia (2017), co-creation and performance of ‘Bottlenecked’ with Amaara Raheem at Melbourne Museum for ‘Elevate.1’ – Global Day of Performances in Elevators (2017), performance in Daniel Schusser’s ‘Schmaltz’ at the Malthouse Theatre (2016) and ‘Play Me I’m Yours’ with Robert Stephens at Arts Centre Melbourne (2014). I currently sing with the music group ‘Oblique Strategies’ (Robert Stephens, Caitlin French and Elissa Goodrich) reimagining the music of Brian Eno and have also composed and performed with ‘Midnight Assembly’ (Nick Thorpe, Phil Barbuto and Paul Dalby). I’ve sung with the ‘Astra Choir’, ‘The Teapot Ensemble of Australia’, ‘The Lolo and Lulu Revue’ (Open Studio, MIFA, etc..), and ‘Lolo and Berto’ (Butterfly Club). My compositions with Biddy Connor, have been included as part of Museum Victoria’s ‘Museum at Home’ online program (created in response to Covid) and as part of Museum Victoria’s live public programs.
‘Ah Wish’, composed with Belinda Moody was selected for ABC Jazztracks 30th Anniversary CD (2007). I won the 2004 Fringe Festival Award for Most Outstanding Female Performer for ‘The Now Hour’ and was nominated for Best Female Performer (Fringe) in the 2001 Greenroom Awards for ‘Quartet’.
I believe in the power of visionary art for community-building and am an experienced artist, creative producer/administrator focused on both pure and applied practice. I have loved working as ‘Pearl’ for The Humour Foundation’s Elder Clowns (clown doctors for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia), managing the Federation Handbells program (for Creative Victoria and Museums Victoria), and participating in Climate Action projects with ‘The Angels’ Climate Guardians.
I currently teach Voice (speech and singing) privately and at the Victorian College of the Arts. I’ve also taught and coached Voice at institutions including JMC Melbourne, Melbourne University, Federation University, Victoria University, La Mama and the National Theatre.
I have a Bachelor of Education in Drama and Music from Melbourne University and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies from the Victorian College of the Arts. I’m a certified Vocal Combat Technique Trainer, certified Vocal Massage Therapist, and the first accredited Roy Hart Voice Centre Teacher in Australia.
In 2014 I was an Australian Voice Association Student Encouragement Award finalist and have been awarded research grants from Victoria University (in 2010) and from La Trobe University (in 2019) to study Voice in the UK, France and Poland.
I’m a member of Australian Voice Association (AVA) and the international Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). My article, ‘Many Doors: The Histories and Philosophies of Roy Hart Voice Work and Estill Voice Training’ was published in The Voice and Speech Review in 2019, and I presented at VASTA conferences in 2021 and 2024 and for the AVA in 2025.
I am delighted to be an Artist in Residence at the Body Voice Centre, Melbourne, Australia.