“It’s the quality of the performances that makes this a must see…Felicity Palmer’s terrifying then touching Marquise de Berkenfeld summons up quaking vocal reserves from the baritone register then displays deft digits on the ivories in the singing lesson.”
Richard Morrison, The Times
Felicity Palmer has had a career spanning some four decades, firstly as a concert soprano and, during the 1980's, as an operatic mezzo soprano.
Her early work included a wide variety of repertoire, from baroque music (with Sir Roger Norrington, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and concerts and recordings with Nikolaus Harnoncourt), to contemporary works with The London Sinfonietta and David Atherton and work with Pierre Boulez, with whom she recorded and toured Messiaen's Poemes pour Mi with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She met the composer when she later performed the same work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta.
During her soprano years she made a tour of Australia for the ABC and worked, among others, with Sir Colin Davis, Rozhdestvensky (Shostakovich Symphony No.14 and The Trojans at the Proms), Raymond Leppard (recording of Messiah), Sir Charles Mackerras (recording of Judas Maccabaeus for DGG, many concerts and Proms) as well as concerts with all the major London orchestras, the New York Philharmonic and the LA Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle in Shostakovich Symphony No.14.
Recital work formed a key part of those years: with Geoffrey Parsons, Graham Johnson and the Songmaker's Almanac, Roger Vignoles, Malcolm Martineau, Julius Drake and a great deal with John Constable, who, after a QEH concert early on, played for three French song records for Argo Records and two of Victorian ballads.
Becoming a mezzo led to operatic engagements, which soon included regular appearances at Glyndebourne, at the Royal Opera House (including Sweeney Todd and Elektra); her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York in Wagner's Ring with James Levine and many subsequent appearances; Rheingold and Walkure in Munich with Zubin Mehta, Dialogues des Carmelites with Riccardo Muti at La Scala and with Michel Plasson in Zurich and Toulouse, as well as work in Amsterdam, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris and ENO in London.
Felicity Palmer has recorded Elektra with the WDR Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov and recently, two concerts of the same opera were recorded for the LSO label with Valery Gergiev at the helm. There is also a recording of Dialogues des Carmelites with ENO and Paul Daniel.
Recent and future engagements include Elektra for Rome Opera, Peter Grimes at La Scala and a revival of Dialogues des Carmelites at The Metropolitan Opera, New York, as well as recitals with Simon Lepper.
She was made a CBE in 1993 and a Dame in 2011.
Felicity Palmer was made a Dame in 2011 and CBE in 1993.
Felicity Palmer is represented by Intermusica worldwide.
January 2012 / 442 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Humperdinck Hansel and Gretel / The Metropolitan Opera
Cond. Robin Ticciati / Prod. Richard Jones
“The production benefits from David Pountney’s agreeable English translation, with no less a practitioner of crisp diction than Felicity Palmer billed as English coach.”
George Loomis, Musical America, December 2011
Genevieve in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande
The Metropolitan Opera / cond. Sir Simon Rattle / dir. Jonathan Miller
“Felicity Palmer brought dignity and gravitas to the role of Geneviève.”
Ronnie Reich, New Jersey Local News, December 2010
Klytemnestra in Strauss’s Elektra (concert performance)
London Symphony Orchestra / cond. Valery Gergiev
“The standout performer was the matchless Felicity Palmer, whose Clytemnestra — foul, but humane and frail with it — somehow managed to charm as much as horrify.”
Neil Fisher, The Times, January 2010
“Palmer's handling of her dream-monologue, her guilty mind shredded 'like a gown eaten by moths', was a tour de force.”
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, January 2010
“Angela Denoke, revelling in Chrysothemis's Straussian raptures, and Felicity Palmer, an imperious yet vulnerable Clytemnestra, were both pretty much ideal.”
Rupert Christansen, The Telegraph, January 2010
“The only principal wholly inside her role was Felicity Palmer as Klytemnaestra – a complete marriage of vocalism and histrionics.”
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, January 2010
“Palmer's lip-smacking, whip-cracking, ululating Clytemnestra underpinned Grand Guignol invective with intelligent, humane details.”
Anna Picard, The Independent, January 2010
“The sensational Felicity Palmer evoked just that and then some as Clytemnestra, her sepulchral rasps turning the line 'my nights are bad' into the understatement of the century.”
Edward Seckeron, The Independent, January 2010
“Felicity Palmer has still got what it takes. The passing years seem only to increase her suitability for her signature role of Clytemnestra. Her tone has all the substance, character and, most importantly of all, menace that the part requires. The image of her in her stately black satin dress, cackling maniacally at the humiliated Elektra is one that will stay with me for a long time.”
Gavin Dixon, Seen and Heard International, January 2010
Klytemnestra in Strauss’s Elektra
The Metropolitan Opera / cond. Fabio Luisi / Otto Schenk revival production
“As the mother to end all mothers, Klytemnestra, mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer was impressive in her one extended scene, managing to be both terrifying and terrified at the same time.”
Mike Silverman, The Associated Press, December 2009
“Felicity Palmer offered a vivid interpretation of the cranky, drug-addled and sleep-deprived Klytemnestra, who represses memory of her crime and is plagued by nightmares.”
Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, December 2009
“Felicity Palmer brought an arresting, viperous intensity to the role of Klytämnestra.”
Susan Stempleski, Classical Source, December 2009
Countess in Tchaikovsky The Queen of Spades
The Metropolitan Opera / cond. Seiji Ozawa / dir. Elijah Moshinsky
"Palmer stood out with a harrowing portrayal of the Countess, who dies of fright when Ghermann tries to find out the secret three-card sequence."
Ronald Blum, San Francisco Chronicle, December 2008
"The opera is dominated by and named for a supporting role, the Countess, Lisa’s grandmother, portrayed grippingly here by the veteran mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer. In her youth the Countess, called the Queen of Spades, was also obsessed with gambling. She is thought to be guarding the secret to the three cards that can win at the tables. In the scene in which the Countess, returned to her spacious bedroom after an elegant ball, thinks of the days when she was young and desirable and sings the refrains of an 18th-century French aria by André Grétry, Ms. Palmer conveyed the imposing old woman’s vulnerability through a worn, crackly and affecting voice."
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, December 2008
Marquise de Berkenfield in Donizetti’s La fille du regiment
The Metropolitan Opera / cond. Bruno Campanella/ dir. Laurent Pelly
“Felicity Palmer capitalised on crusty chest-tones as an endearingly supercilious Marquise of Berkenfield”
Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times, April 2008
Kabanicha in Janácek Katya Kabanova
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / cond. Sir Charles Mackerras / dir. Trevor Nunn
"Felicity Palmer, singing the Kabanicha, incredibly for the first time here, incarnates a Tsar-like tyranny in her rigid presence, and in an iron voice that finds its serrated edge just where it hurts most."
Hilary Finch, The Times, June 2007
"Palmer never descends into caricature, so her tight-lipped venom is all the more terrifying, every note wrenched from somewhere dark and cavernous."
Nick Kimberley, Evening Standard, June 2007
Madame de Croissy in Poulenc Dialogues des Carmelites
Lyric Opera of Chicago / cond. Andrew Davis / dir. Robert Carsen
"The loudest ovation deservedly went to mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer for her mesmerizing portrayal of Madame de Croissy, the fatally ill prioress. She brought profoundly human conviction to the mother superior's death agonies, in which she bitterly questions why God should abandon one whose life was based on faith and humility."
John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, February 2007
La Marquise de Berkenfeld in Donizetti La Fille du Régiment
Royal Opera House / cond. Bruno Campanella / dir. Laurent Pelly
"It's the quality of the performances that makes this a must see…Felicity Palmer's terrifying then touching Marquise de Berkenfeld summons up quaking vocal reserves from the baritone register then displays deft digits on the ivories in the singing lesson."
Richard Morrison, The Times, January 2007
"A marvelous character actor/singer our own Felicity Palmer ensure that the comedy is well anchored"
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, January 2007
"As La Marquise, Felicity Palmer was impeccable"
Fiona Maddocks, Evening Standard, January 2007
"There are scene stealing character parts for Felicity Palmer and the wonder of it all is that her French dialogue comes across as if it were English."
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, January 2007
"Felicity Palmer's Marquise is a sort of cross between her ENO Katisha and Covent Garden Klytaemnestra, simultaneously hilarious and touching"
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, January 2007