Caroline Dowdle has been a key member of the Samling Institute team for the last twenty years. She has been Music Director of Samling Academy since its creation in 2012 and she regularly joins us as a leader for the Samling Artist Programme. Caroline was born in South Africa and studied at the University of Cape Town. She has performed widely in recital with singers and instrumentalists across the world. She coaches young singers on the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House and at the Royal College of Music, and is Head of Opera at the Verbier Festival Atelier Lyrique.
My earliest musical memory is …
My first piano teacher, meeting me for the first time, when I was six, and examining my hands as potential tools for music making.
The last piece of music I listened to live was…
‘Le nozze di Figaro’ at the Royal Opera House last week.
My three travel essentials are…
Good WiFi, a swimming costume and a supply of rusks (South African dried biscuits, comfort food, hard to describe but deeply understood by any South African).
In my free time, I like to…
potter.
My dream dinner party guests would be…
Bach; Obama; Verlaine and Eddie Izzard (and possibly some interpreters…).
My favourite Samling memory is…
Playing piano duets with fellow pianists and singers, after dinner. Great version of Beethoven 5…allowed for as many players as could fit on the stools.
My advice to young song pianists is…
Learn German and French, and dig into the poetry of the repertoire, it’s like switching on a light.
