Equally at home on both the concert and opera stages, Carolyn Sampson is a celebrated artist with a remarkable breadth of repertoire who has thrilled audiences across the UK, Europe, and the world. She has a productive song partnership with pianist Joseph Middleton who is also the director of Leeds Lieder. In 2023, she released her 100th album.
She has collaborated with countless world-class musicians and conductors in showcasing her versatility and her affinity with historically informed performance. She was awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours of 2024.
As the AFCM’s writer-in-residence, I spoke to her about performance nerves, her dream program, what she enjoys about Festivals, balancing work and home and what event she will be doing next.
Your repertoire is very flexible you can excel at any vocal works spanning a 300-year history which encompasses just about anything from John Dowland to contemporary works. How do you adapt vocally to these different styles?
In the Duelling Composers: Staves Drawn evening concert I’m using my big grown up voice because I’m singing Liszt, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. I get to open up and be romantic. When I first started out I studied at Birmingham University and I was involved with ex-cathedra ensembles and sang a great deal of early music.
Jeffrey Skidmore conducted The Sixteen and asked me to try out for it. I was chosen and their repertoire suited my voice because it was high and bright and I found it easy to sit on the treble lines of polyphony. Being involved with The Sixteen was a dream come true because I’d always loved their recordings.
It’s been hard to establish an interest in art song in Australia? What’s the situation in the UK?
Over there the struggle is to maintain its existence. Joseph Middleton goes into schools with imaginative programs through Leeds Lieder. He curates concerts in a variety of settings including nightclubs. He’s working hard to bring song into all kinds of settings and it’s important for him to make it inclusive. We try to work new angles about the storytelling.
In our Album für Die Frau, scenes from the Schumann’s Lieder we separate the 8 songs of the cycle and used both Clara and Robert Schumann works. Female singers don’t like the fact that the text by Adelbert von Chamisso, for Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, op. 42 is written by a man and everything revolves around a man but, actually, the poet gave the woman her voice and point of view which was unusual in those days.
Do you fret about a performance if you don’t think it was the best?
I’ve taught myself not to. At the beginning of my career I would sometimes cry my eyes out after a concert. Knowing the great English countertenor James Bowman was really helpful because he was irreverent and yet a consummate artist and really serious about communicating and sharing the music with an audience.
Are your children interested in music?
I’ve exposed them to it. Oskar and Mathilda have sung in the local church choir. I’m a huge fan of community singing. My son has had violin, piano and trumpet lessons but neither at this stage seem likely to pursue a career in music.
The AFCM is well known for its scheduling of al fresco performances. What were the challenges of singing on a breezy beach at Orpheus-Goolboddi Island?
Well there was sound enhancement and Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Something More Than Mortal is only 4 minutes long. It’s unaccompanied and the startling solo voice is confronting yet also comforting and the lyrics fire like racing thoughts.
What are some of the positives about being in a Festival?
I suppose I don’t separate festivals from other kinds of concerts. Time away is time away. The social element is great too. I’ve met new people who have been great fun to get to know including Olga Zado, Ana-Maria Vera, Michael Collins, Joseph Havlat and The ASQ.
I love the craziness, the intense workload, the packed schedule of rehearsals. Tonight, I’m in a rehearsal which ends only 30 minutes before the evening concert I’m performing in which is manageable but not ideal.
Which Festival performance are you looking forward to?
Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle for Soprano and Piano Quintet, op. 37. It’s the first time any of us have performed it. I suggested the Chausson because it was a great opportunity since the ASQ were at the Festival. An important positive of these occasions is the chance to trial new repertoire because of having extra instruments around.
What would be your dream program?
A mix of French songs. Poulenc’s Quatre Chansons pour Enfants songs, these are known for their charming portrayal of childhood and also Faure’s La Bonne Chanson. It would be fun to do a costumed soiree and have some readings in between the songs. The idea would be to present the kind of circumstances in which people used to enjoy music which was in more intimate settings and utilise the other instruments we have here.
Do you like this Festival’s approach to Concert Conversations where several musicians chat with Jack Liebeck about musical issues and their careers after which there’s a recital?
Yes I really enjoyed it and there was a break before I performed Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs. It’s a great means of connecting with an audience. But I have to prepare what I say otherwise my brain is in the wrong place. I remember when I performed Something More Than Mortal from memory for the first time in London’s Wigmore Hall. I went wrong.
But I grabbed my iPhone because it is a hard song to memorise. I was mortified because the composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad was in the audience. It’s almost mathematical the way she writes. Classical Music’s drive towards perfectionism is important but it can go too far. Making a mistake can be a bonding thing with an audience.
Do you like to commission music for your voice?
Yes it’s a great privilege and it’s exciting to be at the cutting edge of new developments and crucial we are keen on producing new music. Deborah Pritchard wrote Everyone Sang tailored for my voice for my 100th recording.
Tell me about it?
But I Like to Sing is a collaboration with my recital partner and pianist Joseph Middleton. The CD combines favourite and lesser known lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf. We’ve also included French songs by Gounod, Poulenc and Franck and also Hubert Parry, Samuel Barber and Ivor Gurney. The selection is personal because these songs explore how music intensifies our feelings and yet it is comforting.
What are you doing next? How do you manage the care for Mathilda and Oskar?
Gill, my Mum, is a very good grandmother and she looks after them whenever I’m away on tour. But Mathilda and Oskar and Gill are flying in to Townsville tonight to hear me sing in Baroque Temptations. I’m singing Robert Johnson and John Dowland songs with lute accompaniment by Simon Martyn-Ellis.
After this event I’m heading to Potsdam to do Berlioz’ Hermine on the 6 September. A few weeks later I’m singing in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Pulcinella with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana.
How do you relax?
Catching up with friends. I read more on tour than I do at home. I go to the gym and enjoy feeling fit and knowing I am strong which is empowering.
Gillian Wills spoke to soprano Carolyn Sampson at the recent Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville.
Image: Carolyn Sampson – photo by Through The Looking Glass Studio
Words: Gillian Wills