Soprano Toni Marie Palmertree has become recognized as one of America’s most riveting performers of Puccini and Verdi heroines. She has been heard on the stage of San Francisco Opera in the title role of Madama Butterfly; of her performance, Janos Gereben from San Francisco Classical Voice wrote: “The young soprano not only met the challenge, but she claimed her place among the finest vocal interpreters of the role heard here recently.” Other roles at San Francisco Opera include Nedda in I Pagliacci and Liù in Turandot. She also made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut during the 2019-20 season, stepping into the title role of Luisa Miller for an indisposed colleague.
Planned engagements for the 2025-2026 season include a recital for Gradus ad Parnassum, a Valentine’s Day Concert with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, a return to OperaDelaware for a role debut of Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth with the Seattle Symphony, and a return to The Metropolitan Opera to sing the role of Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly.
Ms. Palmertree’s 2024-2025 season included covering Tosca with The Metropolitan Opera and singing the same role with the Princeton Festival, performing Mimi in La bohème with OperaDelaware and Opera Baltimore, and covering Amelia in Un ballo in maschera with San Francisco Opera. Ms. Palmertree also participated in a number of recitals and programs with Opera Delaware throughout that season as one of their inaugural Company Artists.
Engagements during the 2023-2024 season included Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with both West Bay Opera and with Lakeland Opera and an Arizona Opera house and role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. The previous season, Palmertree sang the role of Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly at Palm Beach Opera and the title role of Tosca at Florida Grand Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera, she performed the role of Voce dal cielo (house debut) and covered the roles of Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlo and the title role of Cherubini’s Medea (which she would go on to cover for the Canadian Opera Company, as well). Further recent performances included Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with OperaDelaware, Nedda in I Pagliacci in her return to Festival Opera New Zealand, Carmina Burana with Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Reno Philharmonic.
In the 2018-2019 season, Toni Marie sang in The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductor’s concert and made debuts in the title role of Tosca with the Reading Symphony Orchestra and in Verdi’s Requiem with New Mexico Symphony and Allentown Symphony. Additionally, she joined the Sacramento Philharmonic for a concert of operatic debuts with tenor Dimitri Pittas and covered the title role of Tosca for The Philadelphia Orchestra under Music Director Yannick Nézét-Seguin. Other recent performances include Giorgetta in Il tabarro and the title role in Suor Angelica for West Bay Opera’s production of Puccini’s Il trittico, and a recital performance with pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg in Berkeley, CA.
A 2015 participant of the Merola Opera Program, Toni Marie is also a recent recipient of the The Richard F. Gold Career Grant by the Shoshana Foundation. She is proud to hold many awards including winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council District Awards, finalist in The International Moniuszko Voice Competition, and The Classical Singer Voice Competition. She took First place in the Long Leaf Opera of North Carolina Voice Competition, The Kennett
Square Symphony Voice Competition, and The Marcella Sembrich Competition. She was awarded third place in the National Opera Association Voice Competition and the James Parkinson Opera Competition and was second place winner of the Sylvia Green Voice Competition. Toni Marie is a graduate of the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera.
