Congratulations to Dafydd Jones who returned to his roots in North Wales to win the Pendine International Voice of the Future at Llangollen International Eisteddfod. Dafydd’s grandmother was his first singing and piano teacher and she was in the audience to see his successful performance, which included the Welsh song Llanrwst by Gareth Glyn. The final was broadcast on S4C and you can see a clip of Dafydd’s winning performance here on his Instagram: instagram.com/reel/Da7rU0bgThr/
Opera News
Madeline Boreham will make her Glyndebourne house debut in their autumn season as Countess Le nozze di Figaro, alongside Madeleine Shaw as Marcellina. She is also the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Stuart Jackson and Sam Carl. The season also includes Nico Darmanin as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Lauren Fagan made her role debut in the title role of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa at the Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto and Emma Roberts made her role debut as Carmen with Devon Opera.
Our family of Samling Artists is truly global, and so we were delighted to hear that Sarah Chae and Jong Sun Woo will be giving a recital together on 16 August in South Korea at La Casa de Suoni in Yangjae-dong with a programme combining Fauré, Barber and Strauss with Korean Gagok music.
One of our most recent Samling Artists, Will Prior, received the Helen Clarke Award at Garsington Opera, awarded to Alvarez Young Artists in ‘recognition of professional and personal contributions and musical skill during the season’. Will played the role of Nereidi/Sirene/Feaci/Naiadi in Il ritorno d’Ulisse and covered the role of L’Humana fragiltà & Pisandro, performing both roles in the OperaFirst outreach performance.
garsingtonopera.org/2026-awards-winners-announced/
Will joined eight Samling Artists in the cast of Il ritorno d’Ulisse and they all shared their Samling memories for our anniversary ’30 voices of Samling’ campaign.
Samling Artists in the Press
Louise Alder has given a fascinating interview for Bachtrack, discussing Mozart’s roles and making the switch from Susanna to the Countess.
bachtrack.com/interview-louise-alder
Nicky Spence talks to The Times (paywall) about his preparations for Last Night of the Proms.
thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/nicky-spence-interview
Recordings
Joseph Middleton is the pianist for an album of Gustav Mahler’s early songs with singers Katharina Konradi, Sophie Rennert, Mauro Peter and Sir Simon Keenlyside and received glowing reviews:
“Countless moments demonstrating [Joseph Middleton’s] understated mastery of the accompanist’s art” (BBC Music Magazine).
“Joseph Middleton brings sensitive support and an array of illustrative colours” (The Guardian).
“A song recital that soars – thanks to the pianist” (The Times)
signumrecords.com/product/mahler-lieder-der-jugend-songs-of-youth-and-awakening
Dominic Sedgwick is a soloist on ‘De Profundis: Choral works by Parry and Elgar’, with Hertfordshire Chorus and London Mozart Players, conducted by David Temple, an album that was Gramophone Editors Choice for August.
signumrecords.com/product/mahler-lieder-der-jugend-songs-of-youth-and-awakening
