Bampton Classical Opera has announced that applications are now open for the company’s Young Singers’ Competition 2015. This biennial competition was first launched in 2013 to celebrate Bampton Classical Opera’s 20th birthday, and is aimed at identifying the finest emerging young opera singers currently working in the UK.
Bampton Classical Opera has a reputation for its commitment to young talent and a number of singers who have appeared on the Bampton stage have gone on to work with national companies such as The Royal Opera, English National Opera and Opera North.
At the final of the 2013 competition, Ukranian mezzo-soprano Anna Starushkeyvch was awarded first prize and British soprano Rosalind Coad was the runner-up.
Since then Anna Starushkeyvch has performed the role of Erato in Gluck’s Il Parnaso confuso and the title role in Bertoni’s Orfeo (UK première) for Bampton Classical Opera, both during summer 2014. This year she will be singing the role of Ofelia in Salieri’s La grotta di Trofonio, also for the company. Other recent engagements have included the role of Rosimonda in Handel’s Faramondo at the 2014 Göttingen International Handel Festival, which was recorded by Accent Record Producers, and Anna will be repeating her role in the same production at Brisbane Baroque 2015.
Rosalind Coad is now a Scottish Opera Emerging Artist, and recent appearances include the role of Clotilde in Norma for Opera Holland Park 2014. She sang the role of Daughter in the recent Bampton Classical Opera concert performance of Maurice Greene’s Jephtha.
The preliminary rounds of the Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition 2015 will take place on 31st October and 1 st November at Westminster School in London. The public final will take place in the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, on 14 November. Judges for the competition are British tenor Bonaventura Bottone, and conductors Andrew Parrott and Peter Robinson.
Competitors can apply by downloading an application form and information document from the Bampton Classical Opera website — www.bamptonopera.org
The deadline for applications is 28th September 2015.
Notes:
Preliminary rounds
15 minute performance maximum. Applicants will prepare three items from which the jury will choose to hear two.
Final
20 minute performance maximum. Varied and balanced programme of contrasting items to include opera and song. At least one work should be in English. One repetition from the preliminary rounds will be allowed.
Eligibility
This competition is open UK residents aged between 21 and 32 on November 14, 2015.
Listings
All tickets to the final are £15 and are available:
By telephone: 01993 851142
By post: 1 Deanery Court, Broad Street, Bampton, Oxfordshire, OX18 2LY
Online: www.bamptonopera.org
Information
Website: www.bamptonopera.org
Telephone: 07500 827264
Email: Harriet@bamptonopera.org
Registered Charity No. 1080541
For further information, please contact:
Margaret Skeet PR
Tel: (020) 8 524 5516
07855 707418
2 March, 2015