Samantha Crawford
New AMF Trustee (UK)
British Australian soprano Samantha Crawford is equally at home on the opera stage as she is on the concert platform, and who has been praised for her ‘crystalline tone and diction’ (The Arts Desk) and ‘fine cut soprano which brought singing of class’ (Opera).
Samantha made her operatic debut at the 2014 Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals as Mrs. Coyle in Britten’s Owen Wingrave conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Subsequent roles include Ortlinde in Robert Carsen’s production of Die Walküre at Teatro Real, Madrid; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte at Garsington Opera, the title role in Suor Angelica at Théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau, Agathe in Der Freischütz for Blackheath Opera, Sieglinde in Die Walküre in concert in London, covered Ofglen in Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale at ENO, as well roles at Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Hong Kong City Hall and Schlosstheater Schönbrunn, Austria.
Her performances at Teatro Real, both in Die Walküre and Claus Guth’s production of Parsifal, were filmed for television and DVD release and broadcast to cinemas across Spain. This season Samantha will make her debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana at West Green Opera House, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at Saffron Hall and perform Verdi’s Requiem at Southwark Cathedral.
In recital, her performances have included engagements at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Cadogan Hall and the Barbican. Recent performances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Gloucester Cathedral, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder at Newbury Spring Festival, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder at the City of London Festival, and Chausson’s Poème de l'amour et de la mer at Milton Court.
This season Samantha recorded her debut album, dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices, with pianist Lana Bode dream.risk.sing is an initiative that Samantha and Lana brought to fruition during 2021 and includes Charlotte Bray’s Crossing Faultlines, a song cycle exploring women’s experiences in the workplace which was commissioned especially for the project, and received its world première at Oxford Lieder Festival in October 2021. In 2022, Samantha and Lana gave subsequent performances at The Barber Institute for Arts and The Bloomsbury Festival, London. dream.risk.sing the album will release on Delphian Records in September 2023 featuring the first ever recordings of Crossing Faultlines, Libby Larsen’s songs from her The Birth Project and new arrangements of two songs from Judith Weir’s woman.life.song. It is supported by Arts Council England and the RVW Trust. This year, Samantha gave a vocal masterclass for Poole Society of Young Musicians. She teaches singing both privately, and at Moyles Court School, Hampshire. Samantha studied with Yvonne Kenny AM as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music and graduated from the Opera Course with Distinction, MMus, and BMus (Hons). She is an alumna of the AMF, Wagner
Bayreuth Stipendium, Britten-Pears, and Garsington Alvarez Young Artist Programmes. She was awarded the Golden Medal with Honours at the 2017 Berliner International Music Competition; the 2017/18 NSW Wagner Society Award for Emerging Wagner Singers; and, in 2016, won First Prize and the President's Prize at the Wagner Society Singing Competition in London.
In 2022, Samantha continued her interest in producing new works by collaborating with a composer and librettist and is currently developing a full-scale opera about three women trafficked to the UK. The creation of new performance opportunities also extends beyond herself to the young artists she mentors. Samantha been a guest speaker on cultivating a career in the Performing Arts at the Executive Association Solent, The Mermaid Theatre, Love London Conference, St. Sepulchres’ National Musician’s Church and returned to the Guildhall to advise Opera Course students on career planning.
In 2018 she joined the AMF Outreach Group to further support young artist development of the next generation of alumni and to contribute to the development of the aims of AMF.
From 2016 - 2019 Samantha was the Co-Founder and Director of the Creative Professionals Network Australia. The launch of CPN took place at Australia House, with the ongoing support of the Australian High Commission and The Australian Music Foundation. As Director, Samantha organised networking events across London bringing young contemporary professionals from Australia and Britain together. Events included speakers and performers from The Australia UK Chamber of Commerce, Royal Opera House, AMF, Crossmodalism, Arty Party, Lambay Island Whiskey, as well as fundraising for Home For Good and International Justice Mission.