Artist of the Week: Toni Marie Palmertree
Soprano Makes Her Principal Role Debut at the Metropolitan Opera
By Francisco Salazar(Credit: West Bay Opera)
This week, the Metropolitan Opera will conclude its run of “Madama Butterfly.” It’s been a noteworthy run with two acclaimed sopranos taking on the title role. But that’s not the end of the story. To close it all out, Toni Marie Palmertree will make her principal role debut at the Met as Cio-Cio San.
The role of Butterfly is one that the soprano knows well and has been associated with for many years. She has performed it at the San Francisco Opera, Florida Grand Opera, West Bay Opera, Lakeland Opera, and Palm Beach Opera. Critics have raved about her interpretation stating, “She employs her soprano in a dazzling manner, regularly producing voluptuous swells of tone that send chills down the spine.”
In a recent interview with OperaWire, the soprano noted that the opera resonated with her because of similarities to her life. She stated, “There’s just so many parallels with ‘Madame Butterfly’ – her story of waiting just seems to echo itself in my own life and career path.”
A graduate of the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera and alumna of the Merola Opera Program, Palmertree has been a recipient of The Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation and winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council District Awards. She has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Philadelphia Orchestra, OperaDelaware, and Festival Opera New Zealand.
Audiences not in New York for the big debut will get a chance to see her Cio-Cio San in June at the Princeton Festival. Palmertree will also return to the San Francisco Opera for Amelia in “Simon Boccanegra.”
Recordings
Here she is performing the finale to “Lucrezia Borgia” and “Madama Butterfly.”
