Biography
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Felicity studied at the RNCM where she won the Eunice Pettigrew Prize, and on ENO’s Opera Works programme.
After welcoming her first child with her husband, tenor Jonathan Cooke in September 2022, Felicity was back onstage 4 weeks later with a performance of Mendelssohn Die Erste Wahlpurgisnacht. The rest of of the 22/23 season saw Handel's Messiah, Tippett's A Child of Our Time, a return to ENO and to Philip Glass as a Daughter of Akhnaten in Phelim McDermott's celebrated production. A much anticipated (by Felicity!) Sondheim debut as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd at West Green House Opera followed. She sang Flora in La Traviata at St Endellion Festival, before covering the role at ENO, then travelled to Bradford in November to perform a new adaption of Rosina in The Barber of Seville with a Yorkshire dialect libretto by Ian McMillan. Appearances in 2024 include Amneris in Aida for Kentish Opera, Meg Page in Falstaff for West Green House Opera, Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro for the Opera Project/Tobacco Factory Theatres, and Verdi's Requiem for Bishops' Stortford Choral Society.
In 2021/2 Felicity made her Royal Opera House chorus debut in Tosca and Peter Grimes, returned to Opera North for Parsifal, and sang the title role in Carmen for Baseless Fabric Theatre/Grimeborn at the Arcola Theatre at 35 weeks pregnant! Since performing in the Olivier Award-winning ensemble and covering Lily in ENO's smash-hit Porgy and Bess, Felicity has enjoyed many engagements at the Coliseum, including principal roles in both of Phelim McDermott’s celebrated productions of Philip Glass at ENO: first as Kasturbai in Satyagraha, then as Ankhesenpaaten in Akhnaten. She has understudied roles in Carmen, The Valkyrie, La Traviata, the Mask of Orpheus (Birtwistle), Orpheus in the Underworld and Jeanine Tesori's Blue.
Past operatic highlights include: Carmen (Kentish Opera), Rosina The Barber of Seville (Surrey Opera), La Cenerentola (High Time); Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Up Close); Olga Eugene Onegin (Opera Up Close, Opera South East, and Mid Wales Opera cover); 3rd Lady The Magic Flute (Opera Up Close); Rossweisse Die Walküre (Grange Park Opera); Maddalena Rigoletto (Park Opera); and Paquette Candide and cover Suzuki Madama Butterfly (West Green House Opera). She has sung chorus for Opera North, Opera Holland Park, Grange Park Opera, English Touring Opera, Cantiere Internazionale D'Arte, and Opéra de Baugé.
Solo oratorio specialities include Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Handel Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Durufle Requiem, Mendelssohn Elijah, and Rutter Feel the Spirit. She has made solo appearances for the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, at Royal Festival Hall, and with the BBC Concert Orchestra. 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.
Felicity has a keen interest in music education and community engagement. She has developed relationships with the educational arms of Baseless Fabric Theatre and Mid Wales Opera, for whom she has given school workshops for thousands of children across the country. She has also performed in school/SEND/community/care home shows for English Touring Opera, Birmingham Opera, the Royal Opera House, and Constella OperaBallet. She sits on the audition panel and as a vocal tutor for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and is a longstanding tutor at Blackheath Conservatoire.
To find out more about Felicity's education and community engagement work, please click here.
After welcoming her first child with her husband, tenor Jonathan Cooke in September 2022, Felicity was back onstage 4 weeks later with a performance of Mendelssohn Die Erste Wahlpurgisnacht. The rest of of the 22/23 season saw Handel's Messiah, Tippett's A Child of Our Time, a return to ENO and to Philip Glass as a Daughter of Akhnaten in Phelim McDermott's celebrated production. A much anticipated (by Felicity!) Sondheim debut as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd at West Green House Opera followed. She sang Flora in La Traviata at St Endellion Festival, before covering the role at ENO, then travelled to Bradford in November to perform a new adaption of Rosina in The Barber of Seville with a Yorkshire dialect libretto by Ian McMillan. Appearances in 2024 include Amneris in Aida for Kentish Opera, Meg Page in Falstaff for West Green House Opera, Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro for the Opera Project/Tobacco Factory Theatres, and Verdi's Requiem for Bishops' Stortford Choral Society.
In 2021/2 Felicity made her Royal Opera House chorus debut in Tosca and Peter Grimes, returned to Opera North for Parsifal, and sang the title role in Carmen for Baseless Fabric Theatre/Grimeborn at the Arcola Theatre at 35 weeks pregnant! Since performing in the Olivier Award-winning ensemble and covering Lily in ENO's smash-hit Porgy and Bess, Felicity has enjoyed many engagements at the Coliseum, including principal roles in both of Phelim McDermott’s celebrated productions of Philip Glass at ENO: first as Kasturbai in Satyagraha, then as Ankhesenpaaten in Akhnaten. She has understudied roles in Carmen, The Valkyrie, La Traviata, the Mask of Orpheus (Birtwistle), Orpheus in the Underworld and Jeanine Tesori's Blue.
Past operatic highlights include: Carmen (Kentish Opera), Rosina The Barber of Seville (Surrey Opera), La Cenerentola (High Time); Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Up Close); Olga Eugene Onegin (Opera Up Close, Opera South East, and Mid Wales Opera cover); 3rd Lady The Magic Flute (Opera Up Close); Rossweisse Die Walküre (Grange Park Opera); Maddalena Rigoletto (Park Opera); and Paquette Candide and cover Suzuki Madama Butterfly (West Green House Opera). She has sung chorus for Opera North, Opera Holland Park, Grange Park Opera, English Touring Opera, Cantiere Internazionale D'Arte, and Opéra de Baugé.
Solo oratorio specialities include Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Handel Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Durufle Requiem, Mendelssohn Elijah, and Rutter Feel the Spirit. She has made solo appearances for the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, at Royal Festival Hall, and with the BBC Concert Orchestra. 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.
Felicity has a keen interest in music education and community engagement. She has developed relationships with the educational arms of Baseless Fabric Theatre and Mid Wales Opera, for whom she has given school workshops for thousands of children across the country. She has also performed in school/SEND/community/care home shows for English Touring Opera, Birmingham Opera, the Royal Opera House, and Constella OperaBallet. She sits on the audition panel and as a vocal tutor for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and is a longstanding tutor at Blackheath Conservatoire.
To find out more about Felicity's education and community engagement work, please click here.
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