Kate Valentine, pictured above with Samling Institute’s Patron, Sir Thomas Allen, celebrated the opening of her Valentine Voice Care centre on, appropriately, 14 February. Whilst enjoying a successful career as a principal artist on the international operatic stage Kate sustained a vocal injury: a career- defining moment which sparked a fascination with vocal health, rehabilitation, and the long-term benefits of manual therapy for voice. She writes:
‘I know the pressure of staying well physically, mentally, and vocally whilst performing at a high level. Valentine Voice Care reflects my mission to help remove the mystery and stigma surrounding vocal wellbeing and injury, to improve working environments, and most importantly, to provide a safe space to help you with your journey – whichever part of that journey you find yourself on’.
Competitions
Dafydd Jones, accompanied by Francesca Lauri on both occasions, was awarded first prize in the in both the singers’ final of the Royal-Overseas League Music Competition and the RCM Lies Askonas competition.
Dafydd now goes through to the ROSL Music Competition final at Wigmore Hall in June. Read more and watch his wining performance at rosl.org.uk/rosl-news
Congratulations to Sam Hird who took first prize and the audience prize at Clonter Opera Prize. An audience member quoted on Clonter’s website said, ‘To hear an artist like Sam Hird sing the music of Monteverdi, Britten and Rossini with such telling artistry and musical intelligence was a rare treat.’
Samling Artists in the North East
A reminder to our local Friends and supporters that you can see a host of Samling Artists performing in our home region this month:
James Newby appears at Sage Two, The Glasshouse in a recital on Thursday 14 March as part of the Newcastle International Chamber Music Series alongside soprano Sarah Tynan and pianist Adam Johnson.
theglasshouseicm.org/whats-on
Opera North
Opera North are at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle from Wednesday 13 to Saturday 16 March. Alexandra Lowe and Heather Lowe are not related in real life, but on stage, they’re the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. Opera North have videos and interviews with Alexandra and Heather on their website:
operanorth.co.uk/news/meet-the-cosi-fan-tutte-girls/
Opera North’s other production is a double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Aleko. Elin Pritchard takes the lead role of Zemfira in Aleko and Andrés Presno is Turiddù in Cavalleria rusticana and Lover in Aleko.
Cleveland Philharmonic
Michael Bell is the Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s St John Passion, with Cleveland Philharmonic Choir and Mowbry Orchestra, conducted by John Forsyth. He is joined by five former and current Samling Academy Singers in the other solo roles for the concert on Saturday 16 March.
clevelandphilharmonicchoir.com/concerts
Newcastle Bach Choir
Newcastle Bach Choir are also performing Bach’s St John Passion, directed by Eric Cross, with Andri Björn Róbertsson as bass soloist.
English Touring Opera
English Touring Opera are in Durham on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 March with Manon Lescaut and The Rake’s Progress. Jerome Knox makes his role debut as Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress and Amy J Payne and Edward Jowle are in both operas.
englishtouringopera.org.uk/venues/gala-theatre-durham
Recordings
Arcangelo, directed by Jonathan Cohen have a new recording of Theodora, starring Louise Alder in the title role, Anna Stéphany as Irene and Stuart Jackson as Septimius. This is the first new studio recording in almost a quarter of a century by a British ensemble of Theodora and follows a number of highly acclaimed concert performances by Arcangelo since 2018, all of which featured Louise Alder as Theodora.
arcangelo.org.uk/releases/handel-theodora/
Cellist Laura van der Heijden and Jâms Coleman have released their second album together, ‘Path to the Moon’, in a combination of sonatas by George Walker, Benjamin Britten and Claude Debussy with song arrangements that Erica Jeal in the Guardian called ‘beguiling and intriguing’.
Nico Darmanin appears on the first recording of Fausto by the early nineteenth century French composer Louise Bertin, following the recent discovery of the manuscript score. Christophe Rousset directs Les Talens Lyriques in what Gramophone Magazine calls a ‘knockout performance’. Reviewer Tim Ashley says that Nico Darmanin ‘does fine things as Margarita’s brother Valentino, a role at once cruelly taxing and deeply ungrateful.’
Opera News
Welsh National Opera have announced their 2024/25 season, which sees Nicky Spence making a significant role debut in the title role of Peter Grimes, alongside Dominic Sedgwick as Ned Keene. In the same season, Haegee Lee is Gilda in Rigoletto and Young Lover/Suor Genovieffa/Lauretta in Il trittico and Emily Christina Loftus and Melissa Gregory are both in Suor Angelica.
Garsington Opera have announced this year’s Alvarez Young Artists, including Jessica Cale, Harry Grigg and Annabel Kennedy (who sings Juno in Platée).
garsingtonopera.org/2024-young-artist-announced/
Sam Carl makes his debut for Opéra national de Lorraine in a staged performance of Die Schöpfung.
Rowan Pierce jumped in to sing Belinda in Dido and Aeneas alongside Joyce di Donato at Philharmonie Luxembourg with Il Pomo d’oro directed by Maxim Emelyanychev. Beth Taylor also appeared in the production as Sorceress.
Aldeburgh Festival
Ilan Kurtser makes his debut at this year’s Aldeburgh festival, joining soprano Gweneth Ann Rand, baritone Stephen Whitford and pianist Simon Lepper for a recital of Messiaen songs. Also appearing in the festival are Ross Ramgobin in Holst’s Sāvitri and Nick Pritchard in Britten’s St Nicolas in a concert reconstructing the opening night of the first Festival in 1948. Emily Hoh joins Nick Pritchard and others for another concert of Messiaen songs and gives the premiere of a song cycle by Anna Disley-Simpson and Katie Byford in a Britten-Pears Young Artists Alumni recital.
Agent Signings
Lauren Lodge Campbell joins Athole Still for general management.
atholestill.com/lauren-lodge-campbell-joins-athole-still/
New Samling Artists
Don’t forget that you can see our eight new Samling Artists in Masterclass at Marchmont House on Saturday 2 March, led by Marie McLaughlin, James Baillieu and Susannah Waters. We welcome our new Samling Artists Charlotte Bowden, Hannah Crocker, Alexandra Achillea Pouta, Hugo Brady, Michael Lafferty, Felix Gygli, Zany Denyer and Daniel Peter Silcock and we look forward to sharing their news in future bulletins!
