How do you bring together 25 singers, 12 leaders, 120 pieces of music, 8 group workshops, an astonishing 336 masterclasses and a concert with everyone taking part remotely?
This was the challenge we faced in putting together this year’s Samling Academy but after a lot of hard work and a steep technological learning-curve for everyone involved, it all came together very successfully.
As well as having one-to-one sessions with all the leaders, the Academy Singers received workshops on vocal heath and singing in Italian. They also worked on Shakespeare’s sonnets with actor James Garnon and stagecraft with Mandy Demetriou and they put their newly acquired online skills into practice by making filmed performances.
Joan Rodgers has regularly led the Samling Artist Programme and this year joined us as an Academy leader for the first time. ‘The six days were really well put together by the Samling team,’ she said. ‘It was a joy to work with these talented young singers and they all gave so much that sometimes I even forgot that we weren’t in the same room. I hope I can come and meet them in person one day.’
Watch highlights of our virtual Academy in our film introduced by Academy Singer Rose Galbraith.
