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Susan Bickley

Mezzo-soprano

  • Susan Bickley is regarded as one of the most accomplished mezzo-sopranos of her generation, with a wide repertory encompassing the Baroque, the great 19th and 20th century dramatic roles, as well as contemporary repertoire. In May 2011 she received the prestigious Singer Award at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the highest recognition for live classical music in the UK.

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  • Highlights of her 2022/23 season include house debuts as Auntie Peter Grimes for the Bayerische Staatsoper and Mrs Sedley Peter Grimes for The Royal Danish Opera, and her return to English National Opera for Dame Carruthers Yeomen of the Guard


    Recent operatic highlights include Fricka The Valkyrie in Richard Jones’ new production of The Ring Cycle and Offred’s Mother The Handmaid’s Tale for English National Opera, Kabanicha Kát'a Kabanová for Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Marcellina The Marriage of Figaro for English National Opera, Herodias in Adena Jacob’s new production of Strauss Salome for English National Opera, Kabanicha Káťa Kabanová and Matron The Nose at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Paulina in Ryan Wigglesworth’s world premiere of The Winter’s Tale for English National Opera, and Genevieve in Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande for Garsington Opera. Bickley has performed with Opera North as Kostelnicka in Janáček Jenůfa, as well as Waltraute Götterdämmerung and Fricka Die Walküre in Wagner’s Ring Cycle; she also returned to Welsh National Opera to sing Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, a role she reprised in summer 2016 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Previous highlights include Herodias Salome at Dallas Opera and San Francisco Opera, Messagiera Orfeo with the Royal Opera House at the Roundhouse; Mother in the world premiere of Tansy Davies’ Between Worlds, and Jocasta in the world premiere of Julian Anderson’s Thebans, all for English National Opera; Kabanicha Katya Kabanova at Opéra de Paris, Kostelnicka Jenůfa, Baba the Turk The Rake’s Progress and Mrs Grose The Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne, Irene Theodora, Ludmilla The Bartered Bride, Aksinya Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Babulenka The Gambler; Virgie Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Madre in Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore at the Staatsoper Berlin and Salzburg Festival.


    Recent highlights on the concert stage include Auntie in Britten Peter Grimes with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner, Dido in Purcell Dido and Aeneas in Boston with the Handel and Haydn society, conducted by Harry Christophers, Fricka in Wagner Das Rheingold for the Hallé with Mark Elder, Thomas Adès America: A Prophecy with the BBC Philharmonic, as Baba the Turk in Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress at the Edinburgh International Festival, and George Benjamin Into the Little Hill at Lincoln Center. Bickley has also sung Irene Theodora with the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, Tippet’s A Child of Our Time with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Hallé. She made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel in Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are, her Carnegie Hall debut singing Stravinsky Requiem Canticles; has sung Ligeti Requiem and George Benjamin Upon Silence at the Salzburg Festival; and opened the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival. She regularly appears at the BBC Proms.


    On the recital stage, Bickley has appeared with Roger Vignoles at the Kennedy Center in Washington, with Iain Burnside at Wigmore Hall and Spitalfields Festival, and with Julius Drake at St John Smith’s Square and Oxford Lieder Festival.


    Bickley’s other recorded repertoire includes songs by Ivor Gurney with Iain Burnside; Handel Serse, Theodora, Solomon; Purcell The Fairy Queen, Dido and Aeneas; Vivaldi Juditha triumphans; Reynaldo Hahn Songs; George Benjamin Upon Silence; Thomas Adès America: A Prophecy; and Simon Bainbridge Ad ora incerta and Primo Levi songs.

    2022/23 season / 617 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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Concert repertoire

Adès, Thomas
America


Bainbridge
Ad ora Incerta


Bantock
Sappho


Berlioz
L'enfance du Christ
La mort de Cléopâtre
Roméo et Juliette


Beethoven
Missa Solemnis


Brahms
Alto Rhapsody


Britten
Spring Symphony


Elgar
Dream of Gerontius
Sea Pictures
The Kingdom


Haydn
Scena di Berenice


Mahler
Das Lied von der Erde
Kindertotenlieder
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No.3
Symphony No.8


Maw
Scenes and Arias


Mendelssohn
Elijah


Prokofiev
Alexander Nevsky


Ravel
Shéhérazade


Rubbra
Ode to the Queen


Stravinsky
Oedipus Rex
Les Noces


Requiem
Canticles


Tippett
A Child of our Time


Verdi
Requiem


Wagner
Wesendonck Lieder

Opera repertoire

Adams, John
Death of Klinghoffer


Barry, Gerald
Sidonie The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant


Bartók
Judith Bluebeard’s Castle


Berg
Countess Geschwitz Lulu


Berlioz
Cassandra, Dido Les Troyens


Birtwistle
Ghost The Last Supper
The Second Mrs Kong


Britten
Florence Pike, Lady Billows Albert Herring
Mrs Sedley, Auntie Peter Grimes
Mrs Grose Turn of the Screw
Hippolyta Midsummer Night’s Dream
Bianca Rape of Lucretia
Queen Elizabeth I Gloriana


Debussy
Geneviève Pelléas et Mélisande


Donizetti
Sara Roberto Devereux


Dukas
La nourrice Ariane et Barbe-bleue


Eccles
Juno The Judgement of Paris


Eötvös
Abbess Love and other Demons


Handel
Dejanira Hercules
Juno Semele
Irene Theodora
Storge Jephtha
Eduige Rodelinda
Cornelia Julius Caesar


Henze
Konfurstin Prince of Homburg
Carolina Elegy for Young Lovers


Holst
Savitri


Janáček
Kostelnicka Jenufa
Kabanicha Katya Kabanova
Emilia Marty The Makropulos Case


Ligeti
Mescalina Le Grand Macabre


Monteverdi
Penelope Return of Ulysses
Ottavia Poppea


Mozart
Marcellina Marriage of Figaro


Nono
Madre Il Gran Sole Carico D’amore


Prokofiev
Babulenka The Gambler


Purcell
Dido Dido and Aeneas


Shostakovich
Aksinya Lady Macbeth of Mtensk


Smetana
Ludmilla Bartered Bride


Strauss
Heriodas Salome
Clairon Capriccio
Klytemnestra Elektra


Stravinsky
Jocasta Oedipus Rex
Baba the Turk Rake’s Progress


Tippett
Andromache King Priam


Verdi
Mistress Quickly Falstaff


Wagner
Fricka Die Walküre
Waltraute Götterdämmerung
Ortrud Lohengrin
Brangäne Tristan und Isolde
Kundry Parsifal


Weill
Begbick Rise and Fall of Mahagonny

Susan Bickley’s Baba reminded us, as if we needed it, what a complete artist this indispensable singer has become.

Opera

The dramatic highlight of the evening...Susan Bickley brought tears to the eyes with her moving description of Wotan’s solitary, forlorn existence in Valhalla as he awaits the gods’ demise. She seemed to inspire Mellor to her most gripping singing of the evening – a staggering performance.

Sunday Times

...the sensational Susan Bickley in Walküre, the most terrifying dominatrix I have come across in many years. She is also Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, reason by itself to hear that performance. I’m not sure that she is celebrated as one of the greatest singers of our time; she unquestionably is that.

Spectator

Intermusica represents Susan Bickley worldwide

Julia Maynard
Deputy Chief Executive / Head of Vocal & Opera
+44 20 7608 9902
jmaynard@intermusica.com

Zara Fyfe-Williams
Artist Manager, Vocal & Opera
+44 20 7608 9914
zfyfewilliams@intermusica.com

Lucy Roberts
Assistant Artist Manager, Vocal & Opera
+44 20 7608 9909
lroberts@intermusica.com

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All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles