Bampton Classical Opera launches Young Singers’ Competition

Florence Lockheart
Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Applications for the 2025 competition will open next month, with the public final set to take place in Oxford in November

Welsh countertenor Kieron-Connor Valentine and accompanist André Bertoncini, both prizewinners at Bampton Classical Opera's 2023 competition © Sisi Burn
Welsh countertenor Kieron-Connor Valentine and accompanist André Bertoncini, both prizewinners at Bampton Classical Opera's 2023 competition © Sisi Burn

Bampton Classical Opera has announced the launch of its seventh biennial Young Singers’ Competition. The competition is set to take place across the month of November, with a closed first round in London ahead of a final round at Wolfson College, Oxford’s Leonard Wolfson Auditorium.

Participants will perform for a judging panel set to include tenor Bonaventura Bottone and mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby alongside vocal coach Ingrid Surgenor for the chance to win the competition’s first prize or £2,000, or its £1,000 second prize. The £750 Accompanists’ Prize is also up for grabs.

Applications for the 2025 competition will be invited from 31 March, ahead of the deadline on 31 August. While the online application form will be made available on the Bampton Classical Opera website during the application period, interested candidates can request an advance copy from ysc@bamptonopera.org.

Originally launched in 2013 to celebrate Bampton Classical Opera’s 20th birthday, the Young Singers’ Competition aims to identify the UK’s finest emerging young singers aged between 21-32. Previous winners include mezzo-sopranos Melissa Gregory, Anna Starushkevych, Emma Stannard and sopranos Galina Averina, Lucy Anderson and soprano Cassandra Wright. Audience booking for the competition final will open at the beginning of September.