Marje Palmieri

A gifted and versatile actress as well as an accomplished musician, Ms. Palmieri has performed in opera and concert in the Washington, D.C., area, at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, Lisner Auditorium, the Music Center at Strathmore, and many other important venues throughout the United States.

Ms. Palmieri is a specialist in Italian Bel Canto Opera. Her voice ( a dramatic soprano d’agilità) encompasses well over two octaves from low B-flat in the chest to high E-flat above C. Ms. Palmieri possesses an extraordinary coloratura technique and knows how to achieve great, nuanced dramatic effect with it.  Her repertoire includes the principal soprano roles in Verdi’s La traviata, Il trovatore, Rigoletto, and Otello, Bellini’s Norma, and I puritani, Rossini’s Le Compte Ory, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria di Rohan, Poliuto, La favorita, L’elisir d’amore, Lucrezia Borgia, and Marin Faliero, and Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots and Robert Le Diable. 

Ms. Palmieri has been particularly noted for her sensitive performances in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.  Her roles also include Wagner’s Isolde, Nedda in I pagliacci and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus as well as soprano parts in the comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan and the operettas of Victor Herbert.  She has appeared frequently with the Washington National Opera, the Wolf Trap Company, Opera Camerata of Washington and Opera Bel Canto Washington.

Writing of her performance in the Washington premiere of Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan, critic Judy Gruber wrote in the Washington Post: “She acted as well as she sang, which was very well indeed.”

Of her Violetta in La traviata, Joseph McLellan wrote in the Post: “The performance subtly emphasized the bel canto elements, particularly in the often richly ornamented singing of Marje Palmieri (Violetta), who had the finest voice in the cast and used it with intelligence and expressive power.”

Commenting on her performance in Donizetti’s La Favorita, Grace Jean of the Washington Post wrote: “In the title role as mistress Leonora di Guzman, Marje Palmieri animated the performance with her dynamically expressive soprano, dramatic musicality and energetic coloratura.”

Specialized opera fans have recognized her expertise: The National Wagner Society asked her to perform excerpts from Tristan und Isolde on four occasions in 2008 and 2009, and she has performed arias from French opera for the Meyerbeer Society.  The operatic repertoire aside, Ms. Palmieri’s performances have ranged from Rossini’s sacred Petite Messe Solennelle, to the songs of Richard Strauss, often with her husband and accompanist Dr. Stephen Brown.