Profile

Dame Felicity Palmer

Following her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, Felicity Palmer won first prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship in 1970 and began to receive widespread recognition. She made her English National Opera debut in 1975 and has now sung with the company for more than forty years.

Initially performing as a soprano, she moved to mezzo-soprano repertory in 1983 and has performed in the UK and internationally since then. Her operatic roles include Klytemnestra in Elektra, Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites, Cleopatra and later Cornelia in Julius Caesar, The Countess in Queen of Spades and Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, among many others.

Her many recordings, demonstrating a wide-ranging repertoire from Monteverdi to Messiaen, have received outstanding reviews from the critics. Felicity Palmer was made a CBE in 1993 and a Dame of the British Empire in 2011.

The turning point

Felicity Palmer experienced a defining shift in her career after studying with the famous mezzo-soprano, Josephine Veasey, who had been Vocal Coach and Adviser at English National Opera when they first met. Under her guidance, over several years, she began to approach her singing in an entirely different way.

As a singer who had always been interested in text and become known for her imaginative use of words, vocal colours and variety of expression, Felicity was further inspired by Josephine Veasey’s insistence on the major link between speech and singing, which opened her eyes to what could be learnt from words themselves. She began steadily to find a greater technical security – a more direct and honest sound – in her singing, as well as enjoyment, and a new-found freedom in performing for many years afterwards.

Since being invited to coach diction at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, English National Opera and Glyndebourne, and giving masterclasses, Felicity Palmer began to feel that more than ‘mere diction’ (important though it is) might be necessary. She is now committed to passing on all that she has learnt and discovered through her search for a way of singing she could rely on – as well as from the experience of coaching – in order to help other singers, at whatever stage they may be in their careers.