The Kathleen Ferrier Awards
Mezzo-soprano Ellen Pearson, baritone Hector Bloggs and pianist Francesca Lauri (pictured above) secured places in the finals of The Kathleen Ferrier Awards, held in Wigmore Hall on Friday 25 April. Ellen won the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize for her performance of ‘The Seal Man’ by Rebecca Clark and her duo partner Francesca won the Help Musicians Accompanist’s Prize. Congratulations also go to former Samling Academy Singer Philippe Durrant who won second prize.
Jette Parker Artists
It has been an exciting month for Ellen, as she was also announced as one of the 2025/26 Jette Parker Artists at Royal Opera and Ballet, along with Sam Hird. Ellen and Sam will both be joining us for our Samling Artist Showcase at Wigmore Hall on 4 November. Ellen said:
‘The opportunity to work with incredible tutors alongside extremely talented peers and the freedom to devote an entire week to learning that being part of a Samling Artist course entails widened my horizons, equipped me with tools for improvement and helped me so much on the journey to becoming a Jette Parker Artist!’
Ellen’s main stage roles include second Lady The Magic Flute and Flora Bervoix La traviata and Sam is Baron Douphol La traviata, Mityukha Boris Godunov, and Marullo Rigoletto. They will also appear in the JPAP chamber productions of The Departure by Elizabeth Maconchy, Making Arrangements by Charlotte Bray and Four Sisters by Elena Langer and in Jette Parker Artist concerts and showcases.
rbo.org.uk/about/jette-parker-artists-programme/meet-the-company
Royal Ballet and Opera 2025/26 Season
Royal Ballet and Opera have also announced their 2025/26 season, which includes house debuts for Svetlina Stoyanova as Cherubino, Le nozze di Figaro and Liam Bonthrone as Pong, Turandot.
Other Samling Artists appearing during the season are:
Giustino (Handel): Benjamin Hulett, Jonathan Lemalu
The Magic Flute: Finnegan Downie Dear (conductor) Lucy Crowe (Pamina), Stuart Jackson (First Armoured Man)
Ariodante: Ed Lyon (Lurcanio)
Siegfried: Christopher Maltman (Der Wanderer)
Rigoletto: Jamie Woollard (Count Ceprano)
Peter Grimes: Jennifer France (first niece)
Samson and Delilah: William Thomas (Old Hebrew)
Le nozze di Figaro: Louise Alder (Susannah)
BBC Proms
The biggest news from the BBC Proms announcement is that the singer for the Last Night of the Proms will be Louise Alder – the first Samling Artist to do the honours at this globally renowned event. The concert is on Saturday 13 September and will be broadcast on BBC TV and Radio.
As always, Samling Artists feature across the Proms season, including here in the North East in two of the Proms at The Glasshouse:
Saturday 26 July: Benjamin Hulett is the tenor soloist in Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony no. 2 ‘Lobegesang’ in Sage One with Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Sunday 27 July: Ema Nikolovska joins guitarist Sean Shibe in Sage Two for music marking the centenary of Pierre Boulez.
Royal Albert Hall
Monday 4 August: James Newby is the baritone soloist in Gustav Mahler Das klagende Lied with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu.
Monday 11 August: Beth Taylor, is the soloist in Gustav Mahler Symphony no.3 with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ryan Bancroft.
Monday 18 August: David Butt Philip is the tenor soloist in Frederick Delius A Mass of Life with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
Wednesday 27 August: Louise Alder is Countess and Madeleine Shaw is Marcellina when Glyndebourne Festival make their regular visit to the Proms with Le nozze di Figaro
Saturday 30 August: Stuart Jackson is the tenor soloist in Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with the Irish Baroqe Orchestra.
Monday 1 September: Nicky Spence is Sergey in English National Opera’s semi-staged production of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Dmitri Shostakovich.
BBC Music Magazine Awards
The winners of the 2025 BBC Music Magazine Awards have been announced. The Gabrieli recording of The Dream of Gerontius with Nicky Spence, Anna Stéphany and Andrew Foster-Williams is the winner in the choral category and Christophe Rousset’s recording of Louise Bertin’s Fausto with Nico Darmanin in the role of Valentino wins the opera category.
classical-music.com/awards/2025-awards/bbc-music-awards-2025-winners-announced
Other News
Glyndebourne Opera have announced their autumn season. Bethany Horak-Hallett plays Yolanda in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s adaptation of The Railway Children, which will also be performed at the Southbank Centre, and Jennifer France makes her role debut as Tytania in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream alongside Jamie Woollard as Snug.
Congratulations to Hugo Brady who was awarded Best Undergraduate Vocal Performance in the Royal College of Music Brooks Van Der Pump English Song Competition 2025.
Olivia Warburton was featured as Artist of the Week in Opera Wire magazine, ahead of her role debut as Nannetta Falstaff at Staatsoper Hamburg.
operawire.com/artist-of-the-week-olivia-warburton/
Euan McDonald has been selected as one of this year’s Waterperry Opera Young Artists.
Recordings
Dafydd Jones, Nicky Spence and William Thomas all appear on Malcolm Martineau’s latest survey of French song composers, with the complete songs of Maurice Ravel.
signumrecords.com/product/the-complete-songs-of-ravel/SIGCD870/
Beth Taylor is one of the soloists for J.S. Bach’s B-minor Mass with Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon.
harmoniamundi.com/en/albums/bach-mass-b-pygmalion-pichon/
Joseph Middleton joins soprano Carolyn Sampson and clarinettist Michael Collins for a collection of Schubert songs themed around the seasons.
prestomusic.com/classical/
Jessica Cale appears on the debut recording of English baroque composer Maurice Greene’s setting of Jephtha, with the Early Opera Company and Christian Cornyn.
chandos.net
