One of the greatest singers of her generation, famed for her absolute commitment to text and drama, Dame Felicity Palmer has established herself as a consummate artist across an astonishing range of repertoire. She joins young artist Rosemary Clifford for a morning of conversation to discuss her amazing career, the paths she has taken and her vision for the future.

Dame Felicity Palmer was born in Cheltenham and educated at Erith Grammar School, now named Erith School. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and under Marianne Schech’s guidance at the Munich College for Music and Theatre. In April 1970, she won first prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship. She made her operatic debut in 1971 as Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Kent Opera. In 1973, she made her US debut with the Houston Grand Opera and her Metropolitan Opera debut was in 2000 as Waltraute (Götterdämmerung). Having made her debut with English National Opera (ENO) in 1975, her performance with the company 40 years later, as the Countess in The Queen of Spades, was widely applauded and described as ‘mesmerising’ and ‘astonishing’.