Opera Scotland

Margaret Preece Suggest updates

Born Solihull.

English soprano and actor.

Margaret Preece trained in Glasgow at the RSAMD, then in London at the National Opera Studio, with the benefit of awards from the John Scott and Peter Stuyvesant Foundations. She maintains a career in opera, operetta and concert singing, as well as appearing in musical theatre and drama.

After spending a period in the Scottish Opera Chorus, with a number of solo appearances, she sang principal roles with several British companies. Her Opera North parts include Diana in Orpheus in the Underworld, Despina, Barbarina, and Vova in Paradise Moscow (Shostakovich). With ENO she sang the Vixen, Zerlina, and Ninetta (Love for Three Oranges).

Other operatic appearances include English Touring Opera, Garsington, and City of Birmingham. With them she sang Musetta, Alice Ford, Adina, Flaminia (Haydn's Il mondo della luna) and Donna Elvira. Buxton Festival appearances include Queen of Night and Clarice (Il mondo della luna). At the Batignano Festival in Tuscany she worked in several productions, including Barbarino in the premiere of L'augellino belverde (Jonathan Dove).

Her successes in Viennese operetta included both Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) with ETO and Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow) with Carl Rosa. 

She has sung in several stage musicals, including two with Opera North - Susan Cooper in Love Life and Mary Turner in Of Thee I Sing. She also had an eighteen-month run in the West End, singing Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. She repeated this part on the film soundtrack, as well as performing the role of the Confidante. She sang Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music on tour in Dubai and China and Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady in the USA. With the National Theatre she appeared in Sir Peter Hall's staging of The Bacchae both in London and at the Epidavros amphitheatre. This featured music by Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

Acting work in Scotland includes two summer seasons in the company at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Her roles in 2015 were Mrs Anderssen in A Little Night Music (Stephen Sondheim), Mam in The Lady in the Van (Alan Bennett) and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde). In 2017 she played Mavis in High Society (Cole Porter), June Stacpoole in People (Alan Bennett), Marion Brewster-Wright in Absurd Person Singular (Alan Ayckbourn) and Mrs Treadwell in The Ruling Class (Peter Barnes).

Revised Oct 2017