Praised for her “megawatt charisma” (The Independent) and winner of the John Christie Award, Fiona Kimm has built one of British opera’s most distinguished careers over five decades in the profession. She has performed throughout the UK, Europe, and North America for companies including The Royal Opera, English National Opera, English Touring Opera, Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas, Garsington Opera, The Grange Festival, Longborough Festival Opera, Opera Holland Park, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Music Theatre Wales, the Canadian Opera Company, Oper Frankfurt, the Nederlandse Reisopera, and the São Carlos in Lisbon, among others.
Her career has encompassed an exceptionally wide dramatic range — from Baroque opera through to world premieres of new works — taking in major roles in Britten, Janáček, Monteverdi, Stravinsky, Gluck, Mozart, and Verdi, as well as Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Turnage. She has also appeared as Katharina Schratt in Mayerling with The Royal Ballet in London and Tokyo.
She has sung under conductors including Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Simon Rattle, John Pritchard, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and has appeared with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, and the Nash Ensemble. A committed advocate for contemporary music, she has had many works written specially for her.
Her recordings include Mrs Caution in Sir Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master on Resonus Classics — chosen by BBC Music Magazine as Best Opera Recording of 2020, named Record of the Week by BBC Record Review, and recognised as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone, Critics’ Choice by Opera News, and Album of the Week by The Sunday Times — alongside roles on Dutton Epoch and a recording of Param Vir’s Snatched by the Gods on métier. She appears as Annina in Opera Glassworks’ film of La traviata.
Her recital work includes In Flanders’ Field, a programme exploring music and conflict in the twentieth century, which received wide acclaim at the Wigmore Hall and is available on Quartz CD. Her broadcasts include L’enfance du Christ (Thames Television), Sea Pictures (STV), and Greek (BBC).
Among her recent and notable stage engagements are Grandmother Buryjovka in Jenůfa for English National Opera, Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music for Opera North, Mère Jeanne in Dialogues des Carmélites, Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress for Glyndebourne, Nutrice in L’Incoronazione di Poppea for The Grange Festival, Contessa di Coigny/Madelon in Andrea Chénier for Chelsea Opera Group, and the title role in the world premiere of Jan-Peter de Graaff’s Hagar for Nederlandse Reisopera.
