Susan’s love for performing music began at age ten in a Carpatho-Rusyn dance group, a sub-group of the Junior Duquesne University Tamburitzans. For three years she studied the music and traditions of her Slovak/Ukrainian heritage and performed her first solo on-stage at age eleven.  In her Junior High School years Susan’s parents noticed her increasing love for playing instruments and enrolled her in classical piano lessons with Helen Paul, a local, retired Pittsburgh Symphony musician.  Susan studied classical piano for three years and classical guitar for two years.  During her college years she studied music theory at the University of Pittsburgh and enrolled in classical violin lessons with William Sheritor, a local violin instructor.   

      After a lengthy period away from classical music Susan was inspired one day by her niece to take mandolin lessons.  She studied mandolin with a local instructor by the name of Charles Anderson for two and a half years.  Her primary interest was to play Greek and Italian music although Charlie steered her in the direction of Bluegrass and Irish folk music.    

      In December of 2006 Susan gave her debut performance on the mandolin at the Melody Music Shop’s Holiday Showcase show at Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead, PA.  Shortly after that Susan met and auditioned with singer/solo artist, Matt Hughes, manager and co-creator of “Ar Eigean Gael”.  In 2007 she permanently joined the group as mandolin/fiddle player and background vocalist.   

      Over the past two years Susan has developed a unique style of Irish fiddling and mandolin playing graced with slight hints of blue-grass.  It is quite common to bump into Susan at one of Pittsburgh’s favorite Irish pubs on a Friday or Saturday night.  She enjoys playing fiddle and mandolin in acoustic settings with friends and has on occasion accompanied some of Pittsburgh’s favorite Irish solo-artists, including Jack Puskar and Terry Griffith.  In the spring of 2008 she accompanied Santa Fe, New Mexico’s beloved guitarist and Irish musician Gerry Carthy on the fiddle during a performance in the Hotel Plaza Real Bar.