Watch award-winning actor and director Adrian Lester CBE as he draws on his illustrious career to share insights with eight rising stars of classical music. In this intimate and up-close afternoon of artistic exploration, Adrian will be joined by one of the world’s greatest collaborative pianists, Malcolm Martineau and Samling Artist mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany, who has appeared in the world’s leading opera houses, returns to lead the programme she once benefitted from.
This public event comes at the end of an intensive residency when Adrian, Malcolm and Anna will have challenged and stretched the participants to take their artistry to new levels. The trust and close working relationships that build up over this lifechanging week make for a uniquely engaging public class, when anything could happen!
Kate Calder, Edinburgh Music Review
2 – 5.15pm Six twenty-minute masterclasses, with a 30-minute interval. Ticket includes tea and cake served during the interval. Doors will open at 1.30pm.
Return transport from Berwick-upon-Tweed station is available at an additional charge and can be booked with your ticket. This will leave from Berwick station at 12.50 pm and the return service connects with trains leaving Berwick after 6pm.
Previous Samling Artist Programme masterclasses at Marchmont, August 2025.
Eyra Norman soprano
Caitlin Mackenzie mezzo-soprano
Louisa Stuart-Smith mezzo-soprano
Zheng Jiang countertenor
Philippe Durrant tenor
Jack Holton baritone
George Herbert piano
Alina Tlushch piano
With staff pianist Samling Artist Ella O’Neill
Anglo-French mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany is originally from the North East and is widely praised for her stagecraft and “a superb, glowing, impassioned” voice. She represented England at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and is a winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award. She has sung in opera houses across Europe, including acclaimed performances of Hansel Hänsel und Gretel at Royal Ballet and Opera and Octavian Der Rosenkavalier at Royal Ballet and Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre and the Royal Swedish Opera. On the concert platform she has worked with Masaaki Suzuki, Harry Christophers, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Simon Rattle and this Easter she will be appearing at the Royal Albert Hall’s annual performance of Messiah.
Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau has performed on stages across the globe alongside the world’s greatest singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Florian Boesch, Elīna Garanča, Dame Sarah Connolly, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Fatma Said, Erin Morley, Dame Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie von Otter and Sonya Yoncheva. He has presented his own series at the Edinburgh International Festival and Wigmore Hall. He has recorded over 100 albums, winning Gramophone Awards in collaborations with Sir Bryn Terfell Sir Simon Keenlyside and Fatma Said; the Diapason D’or with Christiane Karg and a Grammy Award for ‘Songs of War with Sir Simon Keenlyside.
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Award-winning actor and director Adrian Lester CBE has been a recognisable face on screen and stage for over three decades. His leading role in the blockbuster movie Primary Colors also starring John Travolta and Emma Thompson, propelled his international career and more movies followed including The Day After Tomorrow and Mary, Queen of Scots. His TV career has seen him star in TV dramas including the long-running BBC series Hustle. He is also a revered stage actor with iconic roles including Othello and Henry V at the National Theatre, Bobby in Company, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor, Red Velvet and The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. He made his RSC debut in 2025 in Cyrano de Bergerac. Directing credits include Riviera (Sky Atlantic), Hustle (BBC1) & The Greatest Wealth (Old Vic).
Collaborative pianist Ella O’Neill received the biennial Royal Philharmonic Society Gerald Moore Award in 2024 and won the Accompanist’s Prize at the 2019 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. In 2024 she released her debut album ‘Awakenings’ with tenor Laurence Kilsby. Recital venues have included Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Snape Maltings, Cadogan Hall, the Royal Opera House Crush Room, Opera Holland Park, Heidelberger Frühling, Oxford International Song, Leeds Lieder and Brighton Festival and live appearances on BBC Radio 3.
ABOUT SAMLING INSTITUTE
Samling Institute for Young Artists Northumberland-based Samling Institute for Young Artists is widely recognised as a leading global authority in the training of young voices. Since 1996, we have nurtured and inspired hundreds of young singers and pianists setting them on the road to success through programmes led by world-renowned opera singers, conductors, song specialists, accompanists, coaches and actors.
Samling Artist Programme provides intensive residential masterclass weeks, performance and professional development opportunities to early-career singers and piano accompanists. It offers a crucial bridge at what for many can be a difficult and insecure period between formal education and professional life. There are now over 400 Samling Artists, from every continent, many of whom have subsequently forged impressive international careers. Frequently our Samling Artists tell us that their experience with us is often the most enduring, formative and transformative training they have received.
Our cancellation period is 14 days in advance.
We will happily offer a refund or a credit for a later date before then, please do get in touch.
Should we cancel the event for any reason you will receive a complete refund.
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