Carolyn Sampson is rapidly establishing herself as one of the most exciting sopranos to emerge in recent years.
Born in Bedford in England, she read music at the University of Birmingham and currently studies with Richard Smart and Jonathan Papp. Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, she has enjoyed notable successes both in the UK as well as throughout Europe and the US.
Carolyn Sampson’s many roles for English National Opera have included the title role in Semele and Pamina (The Magic Flute) as well as roles in The Coronation of Poppea and The Fairy Queen. Elsewhere in the UK, she has sung Julietta (The Tales of Hoffmann) in concert with Richard Hickox at the St Endellion Festival. In France, she sang First Niece (Peter Grimes) for Opéra de Paris, Euridice and La Musica (L’Orfeo) with Le Concert d’Astrée, Asteria (Tamerlano) for Opéra de Lille and Morgana (Alcina) in concert at the Beaune Festival with Paul McCreesh. Most recently she had a great success singing her first Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) for Opéra de Montpellier. Future opera engagements include Iphis / Jephtha for Opéra National du Rhin.
Carolyn Sampson’s numerous concert engagements in the UK have included Messiah with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bach St Matthew Passion at the BBC Proms with The English Concert and Trevor Pinnock, and with the Bach Collegium Japan and Maasaki Suzuki, Britten Les Illuminations with Manchester Camerata and Nicholas Kraemer and Bach St John Passion with the Hallé Orchestra and Mark Elder. She has also performed with City of London Sinfonia and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestras.
In Europe her many appearances have included Bach St Matthew Passion with The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Philippe Herreweghe, St John Passion with The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Gustav Leonhardt as well as concerts with Orchestre des Champs Elysées, La Chapelle Royale, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Il Giardino Armonico, RIAS Kammerchor, Collegium Vocale Gent, Holland Sinfonia and Sonnerie. In coming seasons she will make début appearances with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk, WDR Symphonieorchester Köln, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, and Wiener Akademie.
Carolyn Sampson has toured the US with The King’s Consort as featured soloist and has performed with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort and Music of the Baroque, Chicago. In 2007 she sang the title role in Lully Psyché for the Boston Early Music Festival and performed with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra. Future engagements include appearances with Tafelmusik and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco.
Carolyn Sampson has appeared in the BBC Proms Chamber Music Series, given recitals for BBC Radio 3 and appeared at the Wigmore Hall in a joint recital with Robin Blaze and also a programme of lute songs with Matthew Wadsworth. She also appears regularly in recital at the Saintes Festival. She will make her recital debut at the Concertgebouw in 2007 as well as giving a recital for the BBC.
Her many recordings for Hyperion with The King’s Consort include music of Kuhnau, Knüpfer, Vivaldi, Zelenka, Monteverdi, Handel and recently Mozart in a highly acclaimed CD of Mozart Sacred Music selected as BBC Music Magazine’s “Record of the Month”.
She has also recorded Bach for Harmonia Mundi and BIS, Orfeo for Virgin Classics, Amor in Gluck’s Elena e Paride for DG Archiv, Buxtehude for Linn Records and lute songs for Avie. Her disc of Rameau Opera Arias Règne Amour, with Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore has received wide critical acclaim. Recent releases include Monteverdi Vespers with The King’s Consort and Robert King for Hyperion and Handel Duets with Robin Blaze for BIS.
Her future recording plans include Bach Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki, a disc of Purcell Songs for BIS, Messiah with The Sixteen as well as Handel Solomon with the Rias Kammerchor.