Song has always been at the heart of everything we do at Samling Institute. It demands supreme artistry and can speak intimately to audiences.
This year we are launching Samling and Song, an innovative project which will offer Samling Artist singer and pianist duos mentored residencies. This new scheme deepens our commitment to art-song and widens the career development that we are able to offer to early-career artists following completion of the Samling Artist Programme.
In November, one of the world’s greatest mezzo-sopranos, Dame Sarah Connolly, will join us for the first time to lead the Samling Artist Programme at Marchmont House. French conductor Paul-Emmanuel Thomas, who conducted our February 2019 Italian Opera Gala with Royal Northern Sinfonia, also leads the programme for the first time, and we welcome back Samling Artist pianist Joseph Middleton and actor James Garnon.
You’ll be able to watch the team working with our eight new Samling Artists and sharing their insights into song and opera in a public masterclass at Marchmont House on the afternoon of Saturday 3 December. The line-up of singers and pianists who have been offered places on this programme and for March 2023 will be announced following live auditions in London and Glasgow in September.
Continuing the opportunities we offer to emerging artists, soprano Madison Nonoa will make her Wigmore Hall debut in our Samling Artist Showcase on Wednesday 9 November, alongside mezzo-soprano Angharad Lyddon, tenor Nick Pritchard, baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianists Jonathan Ware and Kunal Lahiry. They’ll be performing the programme of sea-themed song cycles that was originally planned for November 2020, including Elgar’s Sea Pictures.
Samling Academy, our training programme for singers from schools and universities in the North East, returns in October when we welcome thirty singers who were awarded places following auditions in March. We’re particularly pleased that the proportion of singers from state schools continues to increase, reflecting on the success of our Samling Futures programme through which we introduce young people to classical music and share with them the opportunities and pathways we offer through the Academy.
Acclaimed soprano Joan Rodgers CBE joins the Academy leadership team again for six days of masterclasses and workshops. We also welcome for the first time actor James Cooney and Samling Artist bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson who will be working with our Academy Singers on stagecraft, exploration of text and meaning and being honest and true to oneself in performance.
An afternoon concert at Sage Gateshead on Sunday 23 October will showcase the work that has been achieved and early booking is recommended as this event is always very popular.
For full details of events and ticket information please see the events page.
Image: Samling Academy ‘Sea Pictures’, photo credit Mark Pinder
Man, Woman, Child at Marchmont
The Scottish premiere of Man, Woman, Child was given in May by Samling Artists soprano Haegee Lee and tenor Nicky Spence with pianist Malcolm Martineau (pictured above). The cycle, by Jonathan Dove, featured in our first concert at Marchmont House and will be published by Peters Editions in versions for high and low voices. We encourage all Samling Artists and Academy Singers to consider adding this exciting new work to their repertoire.
