Christina Birchall-Sampson - Soprano
Christina Birchall-Sampson (née Sampson) graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama with distinction in 2009. Previously she studied at Emmanuel College Cambridge, ENO’s “The Knack” course and Trinity College of Music. Prizes include MBF award, Hampshire Singing Competition second prize, Lilian Baylis bursary, John Sim Prize for contemporary song, and Christina was a finalist in the Emmy Destinn competition. She is continuing her studies with Julian Gavin, David Barrell and Jonathan Papp.
In 2008, she made her solo debut at Staatsoper Berlin, Aix-en-Provence and Innsbruck festivals in Handel’s Belshazzar, conducted by René Jacobs, and released on DVD by Harmonia Mundi, and later resumed the role at Opera du Capitôle Toulouse (2011). Other recent complete operatic roles include Violetta - La Traviata, Musetta - La Bohème, Juliette - Roméo et Juliette and Gretel - Hansel and Gretel. In opera scenes, Christina has played Fiordiligi – Cosi fan tutte, Contessa – Le nozze di Figaro, Cleopatra – Giulio Cesare and Helena – A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Christina is a passionate concert singer; she has performed at the Wigmore Hall and throughout the UK, in Aix-en-Provence and Copenhagen, and for Graham Johnson’s song concerts at GSMD. She has performed a wide range of oratorio repertoire, most recently including Handel’s Judas Maccabeus conducted by Stephen Cleobury at King’s College, Cambridge, Beethoven’s Mass in C conducted by Tim Brown at King’s College, Cambridge, and Bach’s Magnificat and Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus at Southwark Cathedral. Other recent performances include Bach’s B minor Mass; Goodall’s Eternal Light; Handel’s Gloria, Dixit Dominus, Dettingen Te Deum, Israel in Egypt, Ode to St Cecilia and Messiah; Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and Nelson Mass; Mozart, Bruneau, Duruflé and Fauré’s Requiem and Bach’s Cantatas for London Bachfest.
Future engagements include Tatyana (cover) in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for Ryedale Festival Opera (July 2012, and tour 2013); Bastienne in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and Madam Silberklang in Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor in a concert performance with St Bart’s Academic Festival Orchestra (May 2012); and Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola for Opera Loki (August – September 2012). She will be the Soprano Soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah at St John’s Waterloo with Latymer and Godolphin Choral Society (May 2012) and in Haydn’s The Creation with Stowmarket Chorale (June 2012). She will be giving a song recital for the Burnaby Series at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (Mar 2013).
Follow Christina on Twitter: @chrissiesoprano
AUDIO
"Ten Lasky Sen"
Marenka's aria from The Bartered Bride by Smetana
(Soprano - Christina Birchall-Sampson, Pianist - Chris Hopkins)
REVIEWS
“..Christina Sampson, Lucy Taylor, Andrew Radley, Richard Wilberforce, Vernon Kirk and Andrew Davies...performed strongly.”
Opera Magazine
Belshazzar (Handel) DVD (Harmonia Mundi, released 2011)
“The success (or failure) of La Traviata rests largely on the shoulders of the soprano singing the role of Violetta, and Christina Sampson proved to be an inspired choice. She was everything a Violetta should be – fragile, waif-like, utterly convincing in the role and with a wonderfully expressive voice. She could belt out the drinking song ‘Libiami ne’lieti calici’ with gay abandon yet revealed her innermost thoughts and fears with such sensitivity in ‘Un di felice eterea.’ I note that Christina has sung a lot of oratorio, but hope that she will change track, since her acting ability makes her a natural for the opera stage.”
Music Web International
La Traviata (Bel Canto Opera, June 2011)
"The performance was excellent... [W]hat made the performance stand out was the quality of the principal singers. A heartachingly beautiful final duet Parigi O Cara highlighted the chemistry between Christina Sampson (Violetta) and Telman Guzhevsky (Alfredo). I was glad to have been in the audience to have my heart strings pulled." Gloucestershire Echo
La Traviata (Bel Canto Opera, June 2011)
“The highlights for me were the two duets: sopranos Ruth Jenkins and Christina Sampson in 'The Lord is my strength' with its beautiful interlocking harmonies; and basses James Birchall and Christopher Foster...”
John F. Smith
Israel in Egypt (Louth Choral Society, November 2009)
“Ms Sampson sang with an overwhelming depth of range and expression....[She] gave a stunning example of her considerably mature voice and effervescent personality...”
Bristol Evening Post
Song recital (Bristol Cathedral, August 2006)
“…the committed verve of Christina Sampson’s singing”
Classical Source
Berio/Stravinsky songs (Dukes Hall, Royal Academy of Music, June 2004)