Our story began with a concert by Katarina Karnéus who had just won BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and since then Samling Artists have regularly won major prizes across the world, most recently when Samling Artist baritones Jerome Knox and Morgan Pearse took first and second prizes at the Handel Singing Competition in December.
After his win, Jerome told us about how he has been able to make the most of the skills that he learnt during his time on the Samling Artist Programme:
‘I’m really thrilled to have won first prize … it was incredible to perform with the London Handel Orchestra and conductor Laurence Cummings after so many months of not being able to perform. Despite no audience, we were very lucky that the whole event was streamed live online.
Since attending Samling in 2019, I’ve definitely enjoyed more success in competitions. I learnt so much at Samling and was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work on my story-telling with actor Alex Hassell. I also found a lot more confidence to take risks in performing thanks to all the coaches and mentors. After being a finalist at the Grange Festival International Singing Competition 2019 and winning the Villa Medici Prize, it was extremely satisfying to do even better this year with first prize at the Handel Singing Competition 2020.’
Since its creation in 2012, we have seen Samling Academy Singers progressing to music colleges and professional careers. Continuing this story of success, we’re thrilled that current Academy Singer Tia Jordan Radix-Callixte has been offered a four-year full scholarship to study as an undergraduate at the Royal College of Music from September.
Main photo: Jerome Knox (L) with Alex Hassell, Samling Artist Programme. Photo credit: Mark Pinder
