RCM Vocal Successes

Monday 25 July 2016

Royal College of Music vocal students and graduates have enjoyed a number of notable successes recently, winning important prizes and significant performance opportunities.

Soprano Soraya Mafi, an RCM alumna and current English National Opera Harewood Artist, has been awarded the prestigious Susan Chilcott Award. Worth £10,000, the award is given to a ‘major young artist with the potential to make an international impact’.

Recent graduates, tenor Gyula Rab and baritone Huw Montague Rendall will join Zurich Opera’s acclaimed International Opera Studio in autumn 2016. Huw recently sang Fiorello in Glyndebourne Festival’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia and this summer makes his BBC Proms debut in a concert performance of the opera.

Current RCM soprano Julieth Lozano and recent soprano graduate and 2015 Kathleen Ferrier Competition winner Gemma Summerfield sing Zerlina and Donna Elvira respectively in the Verbier Festival Academy’s performance of Don Giovanni this summer. They are joined by alumnus and Royal Over-Seas League Gold Medal winner Morgan Pearse, who takes on the title role.

South African bass baritone Simon Shibambu will take part in the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project, performing roles in both Manon Lescaut and Thaïs, together with concerts and masterclasses. In autumn 2016 Simon joins the renowned Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Singers considering applying to study at the RCM can attend the forthcoming Vocal Faculty Open Door on 11 September 2016 to sing to a panel of RCM vocal professors and receive invaluable feebback.