Frances McCafferty

Frances resigned from teaching in 1993 to take up a contract with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, performing in The Pirates of Penzance and Orpheus in the Underworld. The following year she made her debut with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where she performed several roles over two decades, including two world premières, creating the roles of Yetta Zimmerman in Sophie’s Choice and Miss Forcible in Coraline.

In addition to playing Katisha for the D’Oyly Carte she also performed the role to great critical acclaim for English National Opera in Jonathan Miller’s celebrated production. Frances has appeared with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera North, Opera Holland Park and companies in The Netherlands, Eire, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Norway and Singapore. Festival appearances include the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, Buxton Festival, Grant Park Festival in Chicago (her American debut), and the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, singing Lady Blanche in Princess Ida.

No stranger to the concert platform, she has sung with many of the UK orchestras including the Hallé, RSNO, BBC Scottish Symphony and has sung at festivals in the UK, Switzerland, Italy and the United States. Her opera recordings include The Marriage of Figaro, Sophie’s Choice, The Beggar’s Opera, Orpheus in the Underworld, HMS Pinafore, Patience, Ivanhoe, The Contrabandista and The Foresters. Having retired from opera in 2018 following the World Première of Coraline, it seemed fitting to come out of retirement for another World Première.

[from the 2025 programme]

Appearances with Dunfermline Gilbert & Sullivan Society

	2026	Strictly Patience	Jane
	2025	The Jury’s Out	Katisha