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Felicity Buckland

Mezzo Soprano

Felicity Buckland is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and English National Opera’s Opera Works programme. While at the RNCM she won the Eunice Pettigrew Prize.

In the current season she performs Marcellina The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Project at the Tobacco Factory Theatres; Mary Livingston Mary, Queen of Scots for English National Opera; Carmen OperaCocktail for OperaUpClose; and Mendelssohn Elijah with Salisbury Musical Society.

Among her recent highlights are Kasturbai and Daughter 4 in Phelim McDermott’s acclaimed stagings of  Satyagraha and Akhanten and the covers of Siegrune The Valkyrie and Girlfriend/Congregant 2 Blue (English National Opera); Wellgunde RhineGold (Birmingham Opera Company); Lily Porgy and Bess (Theater an der Wien); and Beggar Woman Sweeney Todd (West Green House Opera).

Her operatic roles include the title role in Carmen, Nicklausse The Tales of Hoffmann (Kentish Opera); Rossweisse Die Walküre (Grange Park Opera); Paquette Candide (West Green House Opera); Rosina The Barber of Seville (Surrey Opera); Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro, Third Lady The Magic Flute (OperaUpClose); Olga Eugene Onegin (Mid Wales Opera, OperaUpClose, Opera South East); and Maddalena Rigoletto (Park Opera). She has also covered Flora La traviata, Second Woman/Fury The Mask of Orpheus, Diana Orpheus in the Underworld, Mercédès Carmen (ENO); Olga Eugene Onegin (Mid Wales Opera); and Suzuki Madama Butterfly (West Green House Opera).

In concert her repertoire includes Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Handel Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Mozart Requiem, Bach St Matthew Passion, Rossini Petite messe solennelle, Haydn Nelson Mass and Theresienmesse, Duruflé Requiem, Mendelssohn Elijah, Schubert Mass in C, Beethoven Mass in C, Rutter Feel the Spirit, Smythe Mass in D, and Jenkins The Armed Man, conducted by the composer at Royal Festival Hall. She also performs and records as a professional consort and session singer, including appearing on Eric Whitacre’s Grammy Award-winning choral disc, Light and Gold. She made her debut at the BBC Proms in 2023 with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Felicity has a keen interest in music education and community outreach. She has developed a relationship with Baseless Fabric Theatre, a company specialising in creating free promenade opera in public community spaces – she opened their inaugural show as Sadie in new commission Drifting Dragons in 2016 and returned as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. For English Touring Opera she has played the role of Mama in Dust Child, an opera for children with special educational needs, and was a chorus mentor for Birmingham Opera’s production of Tippett’s The Ice Break. She performed as Cherubino, Hansel and Orfeo in Trouser Power as part of Pride Family Sunday at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and has run workshops in primary and secondary schools across the country. She is also longstanding tutor at Blackheath Conservatoire.

Steven Swales Artist Management represents Felicity Buckland worldwide

Reviews

Rosina / The Barber of Seville / Bradford Opera Festival / 2023

“Felicity Buckland, excellent as a down-to-earth Rosina.”
(The Times)

“Felicity Buckland’s Rosina (a role she has sung with Surrey Opera) was spirited and convincing.”
(The Guardian)

“Rosina (the wonderful mezzo-soprano Felicity Buckland) opined that she would “rather be dead and buried”.”
(The Telegraph)


Kasturbai / Satyagraha / English National Opera / 2021

“James Cleverton’s Mr Kallenbach’s baritone, William Thomas’s bass Parsi Rustomji, soprano Verity Wingate’s Mrs Naidoo, Felicity Buckland’s mezzo Kasturbai (Ghandi’s wife) blend like milk and honey.”
(British Theatre Guide)

“Gabriella Cassidy, Verity Wingate and Felicity Buckland were similarly well-matched as the women in Gandhi’s life…”
(Bachtrack)


Olga / Eugene Onegin / OperaUpClose / 2017

“Felicity Buckland was a superb Olga.”
(Plays to See)

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News

English National Opera

15, 18 Feb 2025

Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
Conductor: Joana Carneiro
Director: Stuart Laing