Image ©: Mark Pinder – Samling Academy Concert 2015: Jonathan Ware & Charlie Jefford
Samling Academy Concert 2015, Sage Gateshead
By Gavin Engelbrecht, The Northern Echo
FOLLOWING intensive training over two weekends from some of the world’s most experienced classical artists, 25 young people selected for the latest Samling Academy project gave a concert at Sage Gateshead that held an audience captivated throughout.
Performing a mix of opera, folk song and sacred music, they all opened together with a glorious account of JS Bach’s Du heilige Brunst susser Trost.
Among the many stars of the evening was soprano Ana Fernandez Guerra, who gave assured account of Mozart’s Abendempfindung, later singing Debiles’ Les filles de Cadix with effortless high notes.
Yazdan Qafouri inhabited the character of Papageno in a spirited rendition of Der Vogelfanger, from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, while Crispin Lord had a firm control of his rich baritone voice in It is Enough from Mendelssohn’s Elijah. It was followed by a bright and breezy ensemble performance of the composer’s I would that my love.
Baritone Charlie Jefford’s The Ash Grove was tender and poised, soprano Sophie Darymple sang like a nightingale in The Skye Boat Song and Rebecca Madden’s delivery of MacMillan’s Scot’s Song was brilliantly modulated.