Our Patron
Frances McCafferty
Born and raised in Edinburgh, Frances McCafferty moved to Dunfermline in 1981. For several years she was a peripatetic singing instructor for Central Regional Council before accepting a contract with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Since her debut at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden as First Maid in Elektra in 1997, Frances has performed many roles there, including First Maid in Elektra, Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress and the Governess in Pique Dame. She also created the role of Yeta Zimmerman in the world premiere of Nicholas Maw’s opera Sophie’s Choice for the Royal Opera. Her Katisha at English National Opera earned her great acclaim and she has sung several roles with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and Opera North. She has also sung with Den Norske Opera, Greek National Opera, Stuttgart Staatsoper, New Israeli Opera, the Nationale Reisopera, Opera de Lille, Opera Theatre Company, Dublin, English Touring Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In 2018 she created the role of Miss Forcible in Coraline by Mark-Anthony Turnage and sang the world premiere in The Barbican for the Royal Opera.
Frances has also sung concerts and oratorios with many of the major orchestras in the UK including the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Hallé, the Bournemouth Symphony, RSNO, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, RLPO and the RPO. She has appeared on Friday Night is Music Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Carl Davis and is featured on his recording Give Me A Smile (Songs and Music of World War 2). She made her American debut at the Grant Park Festival Chicago singing Gilbert and Sullivan operetta and sang The Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe and Lady Blanche in Princess Ida for the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. Frances made her debut at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland as Mrs Sedley in Peter Grimes and sang in the World Premiere of Martin Pring’s Le Col at the festival Jardins Musicaux in Switzerland.
Opera CD recordings include The Marriage of Figaro, The Beggar’s Opera, Orpheus in the Underworld, HMS Pinafore, Patience and Ivanhoe and she features in DVDs of Sophie’s Choice and Lulu on the Covent Garden label Opus Arte.
She is a regular guest with Opera Decentralise in Neuchatel, where her engagements have included concert performances of Les Noces, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, Le Vin Herbé by Frank Martin, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Honneger’s Le Roi David and staged performances of Walton’s The Bear and Mussorgksy’s Zhenitba. Post covid, Frances returned to Opera Decentralise in August 2022 to sing in a performance of Britten’s Canticles.
Frances has been a long-time supporter of DCU, both as a loyal audience member and popular guest soloist. Her enthusiasm for and committment to choral music will be greatly appreciated throughout our sesquicentennial year and in the future.
