As a girl ushering audience members to their seats at the Santa Fe Opera, Susanne Mentzer likely never imagined she would someday be performing on that very stage — much less on the stages of the most famous opera houses around the globe. But she has; in fact, she currently is performing on perhaps the most famous U.S. stage, The Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The professor of voice at the Shepherd School of Music is performing through January alongside such luminaries as Placido Domingo, Paul Groves and Elizabeth Futral in the world premiere of “The First Emperor.”

In this new opera set in third century B.C. China, despotic Emperor Qin (Domingo) attempts to unify the country and begin construction on the Great Wall. He orders Gao Jianli (Groves), a childhood friend and gifted composer, to write an anthem for the new empire. Jianli falls in love with the emperor’s daughter, the crippled Princess Yueyang (Futral), whom Qin has promised in marriage to another man. Mentzer sings the role of the princess’s mother, who strives to unite her family and encourages Qin and Yueyang to find the balance between love and their country.

The production team is also an impressive collection of names: composer Tan Dun, who won Academy and Grammy awards for his score for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”; China’s leading film director Zhang Yimou, who made “Raise the Red Lantern” and “House of Flying Daggers”; Academy Award-winning costume designer Emi Wada; and co-librettist Ha Jin, a National Book Award-winning novelist — and speaker at Rice’s Campbell Lecture Series last fall.

“Mezzo Susanne Mentzer is a strong presence as the emperor’s wife, and she uses her powerful lower register to make thunderous contralto sounds,” read the review in Variety. The New York Times said, “The mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer brought dignity to the smaller role of the princess’s mother.”

Robert Yekovich, dean of the Shepherd School, said, “Susanne’s wonderful singing and notable stage presence did — as Mr. Tommasini wrote in the New York Times — ‘bring dignity’ to the role of the mother. The Shepherd School is incredibly fortunate to have engaged a singer of Susanne’s stature.”

While nothing could beat seeing “The First Emperor” in New York, people around the nation will have a chance to do the next best thing Jan. 13 when the opera is simulcast live in high definition to movie theaters in North America, Europe and Japan.

Houstonians can take in the 12:30 p.m. broadcast, part of the groundbreaking “Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD” series, at two area theaters: Edwards Houston Marq*e 23, 7620 Katy Frwy., or AMC Willowbrook 24, 17145 Tomball Pkwy. Tickets are available at the theater box offices.

This live performance also will be broadcast on Metropolitan Opera Radio on Sirius Radio Jan. 13 and rebroadcast Jan. 25, the same day the opera ends its run at The Met.

Mentzer joined the Shepherd School faculty last summer, after six years at DePaul University in Chicago. She has been a guest artist at The Metropolitan Opera in leading roles since 1989; regularly performs at the great European houses of La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera and the National de Paris (Bastille); and is familiar to opera lovers in the U.S., performing in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles and, of course, Santa Fe.