RPS Awards
Tenor Nicky Spence has been nominated in the Singer category of this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. In a series of tweets introducing each nominee, the RPS said of Nicky:
Throughout the pandemic, tenor Nicky Spence has continued to lift spirits with his dazzling artistry and infectious energy. He has been ever-present on the digital stage; giving countless performances and masterclasses, not to mention being an NHS vaccinator!
Among those many performances and masterclasses that Nicky took part in was our own Samling Futures, pictured above, where Nicky worked with our Academy Singers and students from Tees Valley Music service.
The awards will take place on 1 November at Wigmore Hall.
royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk
ROSL Annual Music Competition
Congratulations to soprano Milly Forrest who won the Singers Section Final of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition and now goes through to the Gold Medal Final on 24 November. Samling Artist tenor Ted Black also appeared in the final, and Leo Nicholson was among the pianists.
New recordings
Julien van Mellaerts and James Baillieu: Songs of Travel and Home
Baritone Julien van Mellaerts has released his debut recital disc on Champs Hill records with James Baillieu. ‘Songs of Travel and Home’ explores Julien’s own heritage, with songs from England, France and New Zealand. The recording includes Gareth Farr’s song cycle Ornithological Anecdotes, commissioned by Julien, James and Chamber Music New Zealand which sets words by New Zealand’s poet laureate Bill Manhire that imagine the lives of the country’s vibrant birds. Farr’s cycle sits alongside songs by Roger Quilter, Frank Bridge, Maurice Ravel and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Opera Today published an in-depth feature on the album which you can read here.
Album details at Presto Classical
Lucy Crowe: Longing
Soprano Lucy Crowe releases her Linn Records debut recital disc with pianist Anna Tilbrook, performing songs by Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and a selection from both ends of Richard Strauss’s career, including the Four Last Songs. The recording was Hugh Canning’s pick for the Sunday Times Record of the Week.
Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer
Bass William Thomas – one of our newest Samling Artists – joins tenor Nicky Spence, pianist Joseph Middleton, mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, soprano Mary Bevan and pianist Dylan Perez in a recording of the Liebeslieder Walzer and other songs by Brahms. The recording is part of soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan’s Momentum project, which gives young musicians the opportunity to collaborate with established stars.
Niccolò Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, The Mozartists
Rachel Kelly, Stuart Jackson and Jennifer France appear on a live recording of a work that waited over 250 years for its UK premiere. Niccolò Jommello wrote over 80 operas, and Il Vologeso was first performed in Stuttgart in 1766. This recording is of a live performance, given as part of The Mozartists’ MOZART 250 project which explores the wider context of Mozart’s music and his world.
Rising Star
Look out for pianist Kunal Lahiry featuring in this month’s BBC Music Magazine as one of their pick of rising stars.
House Debut
Congratulations to Benjamin Hulett who, at the time of writing, is about to go on stage making his house debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin as Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
