Susan Bickley – Mezzo-Soprano
Monday 12 August 2024
“The imaginary Ghost [was] fearlessly sung by the wonderful Susan Bickley”
The Observer
Mezzo-soprano Susan Bickley is well-established as an artist of international renown, regularly appearing on stage at the world’s greatest opera houses.
Highlights of Bickley’s 2023/24 season include Hecuba / Victoria in the world premiere of Foccroulle Cassandra for La Monnaie, Mother in Humperdinck Hansel and Gretel for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Offred’s Mother in Ruders The Handmaid’s Talefor the English National Opera.
Recent operatic highlights include Auntie in Britten Peter Grimes for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mrs Sedley in Peter Grimes for the Royal Danish Opera, Kabanicha in Janáček Káťa Kabanová and Matron in Shostakovich The Nose at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Bickley also has a long-standing relationship with English National Opera with roles including Dame Carruthers in Gilbert and Sullivan Yeomen of the Guard, Fricka in Wagner The Valkyrie, Offred’s Mother in The Handmaid’s Tale, Marcellina in Mozart The Marriage of Figaro, Herodias in Strauss Salome and Eduige in Handel Rodelinda. With the English National Opera, Bickley has also created the roles of Paulina in Ryan Wigglesworth The Winter’s Tale, Mother in Tansy Davies Between Worlds and Jocasta in Julian Anderson The Thebans, all world premieres.
Bickley’s wide-ranging repertoire has seen her perform roles including Genevieve in Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande, Mrs Grose in Britten The Turn of the Screw, Kostelnicka in Janáček Jenufa, Kabanicha in Káťa Kabanová, Waltraute in Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, Herodias in Salome,Baba the Turk in Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress, Madre in Nono Al gran sole carico d’amore and Ludmilla in Smetana The Bartered Bride at houses including Garsington Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera North, Opéra de Paris, Welsh National Opera, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, Staatsoper Berlin and the Salzburg Festival.
Recent highlights on the concert stage include Auntie in Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, Dido in Purcell Dido and Aeneas in Boston with the Handel and Haydn society conducted by Harry Christopher, Fricka in Wagner Das Rheingold for the Hallé with Mark Elder, Adès America: A Prophecy with the BBC Philharmonic, and George Benjamin Into the Little Hill at Lincoln Center. Bickley has also sung Irene in Handel Theodora with the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, Tippet A Child of Our Time with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Hallé, Knussen Where the Wild Things Are with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Stravinsky Requiem Canticles at the Carneige Hall, Ligeti Requiem and George Benjamin Upon Silence at the Salzburg Festival and appeared regularly at Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms.
On the recital stage, Bickley has appeared with Roger Vignoles at the Kennedy Center in Washington, with Iain Burnside at the Wigmore Hall and at the 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.
Bickley was awarded the prestigious Singer Award at the 2011 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the highest recognition for live classical music in the UK.
