Cellist Susan Debronsky is enjoying her first full season with The Venice Symphony, but she has been a substitute musician for our orchestra since 2019.
Susan was born and raised in Yonkers, NY, just outside of New York City. “There was always music in the house as my mother and aunt were Juilliard graduates (piano and violin) and often performed together, rehearsing in our home,” said Susan. At the age of seven, Susan chose a different instrument, the cello. Soon it was her turn to perform with her mom as accompanist. “I was very fortunate to have had such a wonderful musical influence in my life,” she said, adding that her sons, Max and Zach, “have inherited my mother’s ear and pianistic talent.” On a recent visit, Susan and Max played music together for the first time. “It was a lot of fun,” she said.
A dedicated music student, Susan studied with the same “amazing teacher” Lillian Rehberg Goodman, for ten years, until she left for Indiana University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance.
In addition to her position with The Venice Symphony, Susan is a substitute musician with The Florida Orchestra and is also the principal cellist of the Albany Symphony. She recently moved to Florida with her husband, Brian and Charcoal Lab Brock and flies back to Albany several times during the season to perform with the ASO, visiting friends and two of her four adult children, who still live in the area.
Susan is also a member of the Glimmerglass Festival in upstate NY. “We perform beautiful operas in a gorgeous setting all summer long,” she said. A highlight of her work with Glimmerglass was performing The Music Man at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman in 2012. In her “spare time” she enjoys traveling, hiking, horseback riding, reading and baking.
In her first full season with the Symphony, Susan said she has enjoyed every concert and “Maestro Quinn’s creative programming.” She also enjoys hearing and seeing the appreciative Venice Symphony audiences and she is looking forward to hearing guest flutist Jim Walker play at the April concerts.
Susan credits her “wonderfully supportive boss” of her day job as an administrative assistant at Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota for allowing her the flexibility to perform with her orchestras. The one drawback, her busy schedule hasn’t provided her as much time as she’d like to explore more of the Venice/Sarasota area. “There is so much to see and do here – It’s a wonderful place to be!”
