ENO Harewood Artists: New Year update

Five of our ENO Harewood Artists – Mat, Elgan, Will, Alex and Sam – tell us what they are up to in the first part of 2019:

Matthew Durkan:

‘I will begin this year by making my role debut as Schaunard in Jonathan Miller’s La bohème and covering Papageno in The Magic Flute, both at ENO. Roles later in the season include Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Opéra National de Montpellier, Masetto Don Giovanni for Longborough Festival Opera and Belcore L’elisir d’amore for Glyndebourne Tour.’

Elgan Llŷr Thomas:

‘2019 is a busy year for me, kicking it all off is playing Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville with Opera National de Bordeaux. I then head to Abu Dhabi to perform in a concert performance of Tosca with Sir Bryn Terfel, Kristine Opolais and Vittorio Grigolo. Following this, I make my role debut as Tom Rakewell in two semi-staged performances of The Rake’s Progress at La Monnaie. At the end of March do look out for the release of a recording I was part of last year, I sang Orbin in Elgar’s Caractacus with the Huddersfield Choral Society and the orchestra of Opera North, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. I’m hugely looking forward to April as I will sing with my fellow Harewood Artists at the Ludlow English Song Weekend, three days of beautiful recitals curated by Iain Burnside. I’ll wave goodbye to spring with two performances of Mozart’s Requiem in Copenhagen with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.’

Will Morgan:

‘Last year ended with my role debut as Tom Rakewell with the Gothenburg Symphony. Since then I’ve been lightening things up with some joyous operetta repertoire; at this moment I’m halfway through a Johann Strauss gala tour which is travelling to major concert halls around the UK and Ireland. We began at the Barbican on New Year’s Eve and will finish in Dublin on 26 January. I’ll be extending my stay there to perform with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra on 30 January alongside ENO regular, Claudia Boyle. Then of course I’m very much looking forward to starting work on Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel!’

Alex Otterburn:

‘2019 kicks off with some exciting debuts. Firstly, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, with the Oulo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rumon Gamba in Finland, swiftly followed by Squibby in Jack the Ripper at ENO. April holds recitals and concerts with Iain Burnside at his Ludlow English Song Festival, whilst the summer sees me play Chip in Bernstein’s On The Town for Hyogo Performing Arts Centre in Japan, directed and designed by Anthony McDonald.’

Samantha Price:

‘Until 12 January I am across the pond performing at the Prototype festival: a revival of 4.48 Psychosis written by Philip Venables based on the final play of Sarah Kane. Our production has made it into the NY Times Classical Listing Critic’s Picks and we have featured in The New Yorker magazine. I then fly back to Reisopera in The Netherlands to complete the tour of Die Tote Stadt, in which I’m performing the role of Lucienne. The tour finishes on 9 February, which just about gives me enough time to get back to London to start rehearsals for ENO’s The Magic Flute on 11 February!