Samantha Crawford

British Australian soprano Samantha Crawford has been praised as a singer 'whose fine cut soprano brought singing of class,' (Opera) and for bringing 'a most complete portrayal,' to her roles (Financial Times). She was awarded the Golden Medal with Honours at the 2017 Berliner International Music Competition and The 2017/18 NSW Wagner Society Award for Emerging Wagner Singers. In 2016 she won First Prize and the President's Prize at the Wagner Society Singing Competition in London.

Upcoming engagements include performing a new programme, dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices, at Oxford Lieder Festival. dream.risk.sing includes the world premiere of a new song cycle by Charlotte Bray, and features new arrangements of songs from Judith Weir’s woman.life.song. The programme will also be recorded with Delphian Records and will be Samantha’s debut album. It is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and The RVW Trust. Samantha will also debut as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser for Saffron Opera Group and perform Verdi’s Requiem at Southwark Cathedral.

On the opera stage, Samantha made her debut in 2014 performing the role of Mrs. Coyle in Owen Wingrave to critical acclaim at the Aldeburgh Festival and Edinburgh Festival, under Mark Wigglesworth. Her other operatic highlights include her return to Teatro Real Madrid in 19/20 season as Ortlinde in Robert Carsen’s production of Die Walküre, the title role in Suor Angelica at Théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Garsington Opera and The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, Sieglinde in Die Walküre with Stuart Skelton in concert in London, Agathe in Der Freischütz for Blackheath Opera, Blumenmädchen in Claus Guth’s production of Parsifal for Teatro Real Madrid under Semyon Bychkov, Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for Garsington Opera, covering Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte for Scottish Opera, and Miss Jessel in Jonathan Kent’s production of The Turn of the Screw for Glyndebourne on Tour.

On the concert platform, highlights include performances at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Schlosstheater Schönbrunn, Cadogan Hall, Barbican Hall under Martyn Brabbins, and with the BBC NOW under Thierry Fischer. Her recent performances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Gloucester Cathedral, Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder at Newbury Spring Festival, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder at the City of London Festival, Chausson’s Poème de l'amour et de la mer at Barbican Milton Court, Mozart’s Requiem, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s Paulus, Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony and Howells' Hymnus Paradisi. Her performances have been broadcast on live cinema relay in Europe, on television and radio for the BBC and filmed for DVD (Sony).

Samantha graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s Opera Course with Distinction, gaining her BMus (Hons) and MMus, where she studied with Yvonne Kenny AM as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar. She is an alumna of the Wagner Bayreuth Stipendium, Britten-Pears, and Garsington Alvarez Young Artist Programmes.

In 2016 Samantha co-founded and launched the Creative Professionals Network Australia at Australia House, London, with support from the High Commission of Australia and the Australian Music Foundation. Before stepping down as Director in 2019, Samantha organised CPN events in support of International Justice Mission and Home For Good.