Our first round-up of 2026 begins with great news from two of our recent Samling Artists who are heading off to prestigious Young Artist programmes in Europe. We were delighted to hear that Hector Bloggs is heading to Vienna where he joins the Wiener Staatsoper Opera Studio and Redmond Sanders goes to the Bayerische Staatsoper Studio in Munich. Congratulations to Hector and Redmond and we will of course bring you news of their debuts when performances have been announced.
In the inaugural Rebecca Clarke Singing Competition, Alfred Fardell was awarded joint first prize for pianists. He and tenor Archie Inns also received a special mention in the category of best performances of songs by living composers for ‘Mabel Walsh’ by Cheryl Frances Hoad. Beth Moxon received the second prize for singers; Ella O’Neill took second prize for pianists and Daniel Peter Silcock received a special mention.
rebeccaclarkecomposer.com/the-rebecca-clarke-song-competition/
RPS and BBC Music Magazine Awards
The shortlists have been announced for both the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards and the BBC Music Magazine Awards. Louise Alder has been nominated for the RPS Singer award and Royal Ballet and Opera’s Festen (with Kitty Whately and Miranda Westcott in the cast) is nominated for Best Opera and Best Large Scale Production. The awards ceremony is the biggest night in British classical music and will be held on 12 March.
royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/awards/rps-awards
In the BBC Music Magazine awards, Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu are nominated in the vocal category for their album ‘Lines of Life: Schubert and Kurtág’.
Beth Taylor and Samuel Boden both appear on recordings nominated in the choral category – Beth with Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion in Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Samuel for Handel’s Chandos Anthems with Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo.
The BBC Music Magazine awards are decided by the public and you can vote here:
classical-music.com/awards/bbc-music-magazine-awards-2026-vote-now
Performance news
Finnegan Downie Dear makes two major conducting debuts this season at Opéra de Lyon conducting Billy Budd and at Garsington conducting Der Rosenkavalier. The Opéra de Lyon Billy Budd also sees Derek Welton making his role debut as John Claggart and Hugo Brady as The Novice and the cast for Der Rosenkavalier includes Ben McAteer and Simon Wilding.
Garsington continue their trilogy of Monteverdi operas with Il ritorno d’Ulisse and a cast of no fewer than seven Samling Artists: Ed Lyon (Ulisse), Dafydd Jones (Telemaco), Stuart Jackson (Iro), Rowan Pierce (Melanto), Claire Lees (Minerva/Armore), Jessica Cale (Giunone/La Fortuna) and Benjamin Hulett (Giove/Anfinomo).
Rounding off Garsington’s 2026 season, Jennifer France is Cecily Cardew in Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Ernest and Jessica Cale is covering Violetta La traviata.
Jessica also makes her solo debut with Arcangelo as Michal Saul for the London Handel Festival, sings Violetta in a concert performance La traviata in Lancaster with the Haffner Orchestra and appears in cathedrals across the country, including Durham on 12 February, as a soloist in baroque classics with Gabrieli ROAR .
Recordings
David Butt Philip sings the title role in The Dream of Gerontius with Martyn Brabbins, the Orchestra of Opera North and Huddersfield Choral Society.
hyperion-records.co.uk/
William Vann has two new recordings out this month. He directs the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in ‘Light out of Darkness’, a collection of sacred and secular choral music by Edward Elgar and as a pianist he also has a new album out with Katie Bray – ‘In search of Youkali: Songs of Kurt Weill’
Light out of Darkness
In Search of Youkali
Jennifer France is also singing Kurt Weill, appearing on a recording of The Seven Deadly Sins with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by HK Gruber.
prestomusic.com/classical/products/9832208–kurt-weill-the-seven-deadly-sins
Harriet Burns is part of the line-up on ‘Listen. It is here’, a recording of new songs by British composer Edward Picton-Turbervill.
delphianrecords.com/products/listen-it-is-here-song-cycles-by-edward-picton-turbervill
