Cellist composes community
Staff writer
For Susan Mayo, music never has been only about performance. It always has been about connection.
The Peabody-area cellist and composer has become one of Marion County’s strongest advocates for the arts, organizing concerts, building cultural programming, and helping create projects designed to bring people together through music and creative work.
“I think, in general, what all of this is about is community building and celebrating Marion County and Peabody through the arts, using the arts to create community, bring people together, and create dialogue, ” Mayo said.
Mayo is executive director of Sunflower Theatre, where she helps organize concerts, performances, and other arts programming while work continues to restore the historic venue.
Through grants, fundraising, and community support, the theater has expanded its programming with concerts and cultural events that bring artists from across the region to Peabody.
The effort also includes building support for the theater’s ongoing renovation.
“We’ve created a nonprofit, and we started doing arts programming and working on a renovation campaign for the theater,” Mayo said.
Beyond the theater, Mayo is involved in several arts projects across the region. One of them is Flint Hills Counterpoint, an environmental arts nonprofit serving Marion County.
“Our mission is to raise awareness for land stewardship through the arts and community,” Mayo said.
The project brings together music, art, and community events designed to encourage people to think about their relationship with the land and the region.
Mayo’s work extends into performance and collaboration with musicians in Kansas and beyond. She performs with the Switchgrass String Quartet and has participated in collaborative music projects including Multifarious, MapMusik, MHM, and Polk Salad, groups that explore everything from chamber music and improvisation to experimental and cross-genre performance.
Alongside performing, Mayo composes music for a variety of settings and collaborations, often blending classical traditions with cultural and environmental themes. One project is a collaboration between Kansas and Pakistan inspired by her husband’s background as a way to build dialogue between the two cultures.
Her connection to music began early. Mayo grew up in a musical family in Flagstaff, Arizona, and began playing piano and cello as a child.
She later built a career around the cello, earning advanced degrees in cello performance and performing and teaching for many years.
“I have my doctorate in cello performance,” she said. “I’ve played in orchestras and taught at universities.”
More than 30 years ago, Mayo and her husband moved to property outside Peabody, drawn in part by the rural landscape and an opportunity to live closer to nature.
Over time, she said, her interests expanded beyond performing and teaching to using music and the arts as a way to strengthen communities.
“As I got older,” Mayo said, “I became interested in nonprofits and ways to use the arts beyond just as a performance or teaching vehicle.”
Today, Mayo continues composing, performing, and organizing arts programming while working to connect artists and audiences throughout Marion County.
She thinks these efforts are especially important in rural communities.
“Rural communities are devastatingly underserved in the area of the arts,” she said. “To be able to bring that to the area and the region is really a delight and an honor.”
For Mayo, the work ultimately comes back to community.
“The overarching one,” she said, “is helping people move forward positively and appreciate what we have around us and the people we have around us.”
Through performances, collaborations, community projects, and a lot of passion, Mayo continues working to make sure arts remain a vibrant part of life in Marion County.