Carolyn Sampson
Soprano
Though she initially made her name in historically informed performances and recordings of Baroque composers, the Bedford-born Carolyn Sampson’s repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the 21st century. With pianist Joseph Middleton she has recently released Album für die Frau, a recording of songs by Robert and Clara Schumann, and on 20 June she joins Middleton and baritone Roderick Williams in recital at the Leeds Lieder festival.
Iwas about 15 when I sang in MAHLER’S ‘Resurrection’ Symphony in the Royal Albert Hall with massed choirs and the Bedfordshire Youth Orchestra conducted by Michael Rose. It was an extraordinary experience to be high in the choir stalls, surrounded by singers, with the orchestra on stage and bands in every corner. I’d never heard the whole piece – we’d only rehearsed the last ten minutes – so the impression of the sound and the space and this music that draws you along a long path was epic: a huge, all-body experience.
I did a music degree at Birmingham University and I sang in choirs, including Ex Cathedra under Jeffrey Skidmore, and later with The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars and The King’s Consort among others. My early career was concentrated on early music so I had to include a Baroque choice here! PURCELL’S The Fairy Queen has come with me through my career: it still makes me smile and fills my heart with joy. There is not a weak number in it – you can do it staged, in concert, in dance; it can take anything. One of my favourite performances was at Glyndebourne, with wonderful dancers and actors, especially ‘The Plaint’ with the lovely dancer Anthony Kurt-gabel.
Another piece that has been with me throughout is MOZART’S C Minor Mass. I still have my score from university and I know it well from having sung the chorus so many times. As a soloist I have performed it all over – with Ex Cathedra, Bach Collegium Japan, Salzburg, even the St Louis Symphony Orchestra.
The piece has shaped my life for a different reason too – strangely I developed performance anxiety around this beautiful work. People who know me always think I am reliable, hard to rattle, poised on stage, but one day I experienced crippling nerves. It was during the ‘Et incarnatus’, which is incredibly hard and has nowhere to hide. It’s interesting that these things can catch you out at any time. I’m coming through it, but it’s really important that we are able to talk about it. I will continue to perform Mozart because of sublime moments like the ‘Et incarnatus’. It’s amazing to be part of a quartet of wind instruments: it feels like the most filigree, fine music-making – the very height of chamber music.
In 2017, director David Mcvicar asked me to sing in his production of DEBUSSY’S Pelléas et Mélisande for Scottish Opera. The more I got to know the piece, the more I loved it. I fell in love with the soundworld: from the very opening chord, you’re brought into another world. It feels like a very human story and I love the fact that Debussy was keen to have singing actors rather than opera singers. The piece shaped me because it speaks to everything that I think we should be doing on stage in terms of telling stories – it should not be just about our voices. When Mélisande says she loves Pelléas, it’s the quietest, lowest uttering: so personal, so intimate, it’s almost like she has no choice.
I’ve always loved giving recitals because they’re like mini-operas – you have to create a gamut of emotions in just a few minutes. I was probably 40 when I made my first recital album, Fleurs, with pianist Joseph Middleton, and we’ve recorded another six together for BIS. Picking a favourite song is difficult so I’ve chosen something written with my voice in mind – HUW WATKINS’S Five Larkin Songs from 2010. It’s a privilege to be involved in the creation of a new piece, but you’re aware when giving the first performance that you have a responsibility to put it out there in its best light. That’s a very positive challenge: it’s exciting to think that we are all still growing with these new pieces.