Bampton Classical Opera is delighted to announce that the Winner of the 2025 Young Singers’ Competition is soprano Seohyun Go. The Second Prize has been awarded jointly to mezzo-soprano Emma Roberts and soprano Erin Rossington. The winner of the Accompanists’ Prize is Daniel Peter Silcock. The decision was reached after an exciting final on Tuesday 25 November at the Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College, Oxford. The adjudicators were the internationally renowned British singers, tenor Bonaventura Bottone and mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby, and the esteemed vocal coach, pianist and accompanist Ingrid Surgenor.
Seohyun Go is awarded £2,000, Erin Rossington and Emma Roberts each receive £500 and Daniel Peter Silcock is awarded £750.
This biennial competition was first launched in 2013 to celebrate Bampton Classical Opera’s 20th birthday, and is aimed at identifying the finest emerging singers currently studying or working in the UK. The Accompanists’ Prize was introduced in 2017.
From an initial entry of 54 young singers aged 21-32 and after two preliminary rounds, eight were chosen to compete at the public final in the Leonard Wolfson Auditorium. The finalists were Emma Roberts (mezzo-soprano), Seohyun Go (soprano), Myrna Tennant (mezzo-soprano), Erin Rossington (soprano), Shafali Jalota (soprano), Wonsick Oh (bass-baritone), Michael Lafferty (baritone), Erin O’Rourke (soprano).
Seohyun’s programme included J Marx’s Pierrot Dandy, ‘Let the bright Seraphim’from Handel’s Samson, ‘I fauni’ byRespighiand ‘Crudele… Non mi dir’from Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
The decision to award First Prize to Seohyun Go was unanimous. Chair of the adjudicators Bonaventura Bottone said:
“Our winner, Seohyun Go, has a serene presence and gave a flawless performance vocally with a seemingly unlimited range and brilliance in coloratura. She illuminated areas of ornamentation that rarely seem possible.
The panel was in no doubt of the winner, but the standard was so high this year that two candidates could not be separated and had both shown excellent performances. Emma Roberts, joint second place, produced a wonderful programme and excellent coloratura in ‘Disperanza un bel Raggio…venti Turbini’ (Handel – Rinaldo) throughout her range. Emma went through her recital with clear text and characterful interaction with the audience. Erin Rossington, also joint second, impressed with a superb performance including ‘Come scoglio’, sung here stunningly. Erin has a natural winning stage presence.”
Soprano Seohyun Go, from South Korea, is a versatile artist praised for her expressiveness. She is currently pursuing Opera Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she began postgraduate vocal studies in 2023 under Samantha Malk. A graduate of Seoul National University, she was a Young Artist at the Korean National Opera’s Opern Studio in 2021 and 2023. In 2025, Seohyun won the Guildhall Gold Medal, following her previous Barbican appearance as soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria. She was also a 70th Kathleen Ferrier Awards Finalist at London’s Wigmore Hall. Recipient of Guildhall’s 2024 Franz-Schubert-Institut Lieder Prize, she deepened her engagement with German Lieder in Austria. Her operatic repertoire includes Donna Anna, Violetta, Manon, Norina, the Controller, and the Queen of the Night. She has performed at the Korean National Opera, Tonhalle Zürich, and Vienna’s Baumgarten Hall. Upcoming projects include Opera Der Wald, Lucrezia, Owen Wingrave, and recital in Carnegie Hall NY.
Mezzo-soprano Emma Roberts attended National Opera Studio 22/23, is an artist with Samling, Britten Pears and Orsay-Royaumont. A graduate from RCM Opera School 2022, Emma won both 2nd prize and song prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, 1st Prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition and 3rd prize in the International Schumann Competition Zwickau 2024. Emma has performed recitals at the Wigmore Hall, New Paths Festival, Musée D’Orsay and Abbaye de Royaumont, the London and Oxford Song Festivals, Red House Snape Maltings and Aalborg Festival. Previous roles include Polina cover in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades for Garsington Festival 2025, Lorca cover in Golijov’s Ainadamar WNO, Minskwoman Flight, Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel, Eduige Rodelinda, Third Lady Die Zauberflöte, Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice, Lola Cavalleria Rusticana title role in Mascagni’s Zanetto.
Soprano Erin Rossington was Associate Artist at Welsh National Opera 2024/25, during her time she performed as Cercatrice in Suor Angelica and Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro. Last season she sang the role of Micaëla in La Tragedié de Carmen for Buxton International Festival and has just been covering the full role at English National Opera this Autumn. Other roles performed include, Fiordiligi Cosí fan tutte and La Feé Cendrillon (Viardot). She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. A regular on the competition platform, she won International Voice of the Future at Llangollen Eisteddfod and the prestigious Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize. Erin was a finalist for the Vincerò competition in Verona, Hurn Court Opera Competition and Semi-finalist for Paris Opera Competition.
Daniel Peter Silcock is a Scottish pianist currently based in London. Recent seasons have seen him perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and at Wigmore Hall; he has appeared alongside Dame Felicity Lott and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. He is a Samling Artist, a Britten-Pears Young Artist, and a pianist in Renée Fleming’s SongStudio 2024; he was also an Art of Song fellow at Toronto Summer Music. Recent prizes include the Richard Leech Award, and at the Eastbourne Singing Competition and the International Lied Competition in Görlitz, Germany.
Daniel made his concerto debut at the age of 15 playing Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Symphony Orchestra. He is currently on the Song Circle and Academy Voices fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Joseph Middleton and won major prizes for song accompaniment. Forthcoming projects include recitals in India, including the Mumbai Opera House, and founding SongTide, a new festival for song on Scotland’s north-east coast, centred around his hometown of Peterhead.
Previous Winners
2013 Winner: Anna Starushkevych (mezzo-soprano), Second Prize: Rosalind Coad (soprano)
2015 Winner: Galina Averina (soprano), Second Prize: Céline Forrest (soprano)
2017 Winner: Emma Stannard (mezzo-soprano), Second Prize: Wagner Moreira (tenor)
Accompanists’ Prize: Keval Shah
2019 Winner: Lucy Anderson (soprano) Joint Second Prize: Daniella Sicari (soprano) and Carolyn Holt (mezzo-soprano)
Accompanists’ Prize: Dylan Perez
2021 Winner: Cassandra Wright (soprano), Second Prize: Jessica Cale (soprano)
Accompanists’ Prize: Ilan Kurtser
2023 Winner: Melissa Gregory (mezzo-soprano), Second Prize: Kieron-Connor Valentine (countertenor)
Accompanists’ Prize: André Bertoncini
The 2025 Young Singers’ Competition is generously supported by the John S. Cohen Foundation, the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and the Bishopsdown Trust.
We are grateful to Caroline Garthwaite for her sponsorship of the Accompanists’ Prize.
Bampton Classical Opera has an outstanding reputation for its commitment to young talent and many singers who have appeared on the Bampton stage have gone on to work with national companies such as The Royal Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera and Opera North.
The company stages productions in rural venues in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire as well as regularly in London at St John’s Smith Square. Other significant venues and festivals have included Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, Buxton Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Theatre Royal Bath. Eschewing familiar repertoire, Bampton concentrates instead on rarities from the late eighteenth century, sung in lively new English translations, and has given many enterprising performances of forgotten operas. Amongst these have been UK premières of Bertoni Orfeo, Marcos Portugal The Marriage of Figaro, Paer Leonora, Benda Romeo and Juliet , Gluck Il Parnaso confuso , and Salieri Falstaff and La grotta di Trofonio.
The company was a Finalist in the 2020 and 2023 International Opera Awards.
For further information please contact:
Margaret Skeet PR
margaret@margaretskeet.com
020 8 351 0726
07855 707418
Top image: Seohyun Go
Photo by James Rose Photography and Video