The Sir David Maddison Opera Prize

We are delighted to announce The Sir David Maddison Opera Prize 2022 will be taking place on Saturday 22 October 2022, in association with The Royal Northern College of Music.

Six Opera stars of the future will perform for Members and guests with the winner being awarded The Sir David Maddison Opera Prize 2022 and the designation of Athenaeum ‘Artiste In Residence’ for the next 12 months.

Join us between 6:30pm and 7:00pm in the Newsroom for a drinks reception ahead of the contest which will commence at 7:00pm. There will be an interval during which a two-course supper will be served in the Dining Room whilst the Judges’ deliberate. Following dinner attendees will return to the Newsroom for the prize giving and reprise performances of the winner and runner up in the contest

You can book tickets now via the Concierge or the Members’ Area of the website for just £35.00 per person and are available on a first come first serve basis.

We are indebted this year to the generosity of several Athenaeum Proprietors for very kindly providing sponsorship for the event, HH Judge David Hodge QC and Mr David Holdsworth.

There now follows biographies of the RNCM Students contesting for this year’s Sir David Maddison Opera Prize, as well as the menu and itinerary for the event.

Sarah Winn

Mezzo-soprano Sarah Winn, recently completed her Graduate Certificate in Music Studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the conservatorium studying under the guidance of Dr Margaret Schindler (Doctorate in Musical Arts). Upon the completion of her degree, Sarah was awarded the Linda Edith Allen award for having achieved the highest performance grade in her year level and the Doreen Ord & Lyceum Club Prize for Classical Voice.

During her time at the conservatorium, she has performed the roles of Béatrice in Berlioz’s Beatrice et Bénédict, the Chinese Cup and The Dragonfly in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Aloès in Chabrier’s L’etoile, The Publican’s Wife in the world premiere of Paul Dean’s Dry River Run and covered Ramiro in La finta giardiniera. She performed excerpts from Puccini’s La rondine (Suzy), Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Purcell’s Fairy-Queen.

Most recently she performed the role of Der Komponist in the Royal Northern College of Music’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos, where she was also a finalist in the Joyce and Michael Kennedy award for the singing of Strauss and the Frederic Cox award.

Engagements include performing as a guest soloist with the Brisbane Symphony Orchestra in the Brisbane Sings concert (2020), the Alto solo in Handel’s Messiah (2019) with the Queensland Choir and Sinfonia of St Andrews and as a guest soloist in the Noosa Alive Concert with the Noosa Orchestra (2019). She performed in Opera Queensland’s production of Peter Grimes during the Brisbane Festival (2018), as a guest soloist with the Queensland Choir (2018) during their Brisbane concert series and the Alto solo in Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Queensland Conservatorium Chorale (2018).

Sarah is very excited to be in her second year at the Royal Northern College of Music, completing a Master of Performance. This is generously supported by the Alice Orrell and A&N Kendall Award as well as the Maurice and Jean Buckley Award.

Joe Ashmore

Joe is a first-year masters student on the Vocal Studies and Opera programme at the Royal Northern College of Music, generously supported by The South Square Trust, where he obtained a first class honours degree at undergraduate level.

During his undergraduate degree, Joe took three chorus roles in RNCM operas, Offenbach’s ‘La Vie Parisienne’, Handel’s ‘Theodora’ and Massenet’s ‘Cendrillon’ which was nominated for best opera in the Manchester Theatre Awards. He was also cast as Mistrust in RNCM’s production of ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ by Vaughan-Williams in Spring 2019, directed by Jonathan Cocker and conducted by David Parry. Joe was also ‘Highly Recommended’ in the prestigious James Martin Oncken Song Prize. Most recently, Joe sang the role of the Witch of Endor in Handel’s ‘Saul’ as a guest soloist of the Academy Choir, Wimbledon, alongside renowned bass-baritone Christopher Purves.

In December 2021, Joe made his Bridgewater Hall debut with the RNCM Songsters when performing in a pre-concert performance of Scandinavian music. In March this year, Joe performed in a concert with the Songsters and Chamber Choir for International Women’s Day. Joe was also selected to represent the RNCM as part of a chorus travelling to Bergen, Norway to perform the world premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth’s Magnificat in April. Joe returned to the opera stage in June when he performed the role of Propser in Offenbach’s ‘La Vie Parisienne’ as part of RNCM Opera Scenes.

Sarah Prestwidge

Sarah Prestwidge is a young aboriginal Australian Soprano, studying a Master of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, with a full ABRSM scholarship. She holds a Bachelor of Music (Education) from Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she was awarded numerous awards for her excellence. Sarah is also the recipient of the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship from the Australian Council for the Arts and a Tait Memorial Trust Awardee.

Sarah’s operatic highlights include, Arsena in The Gypsy Baron, Purran-Murnin in Buckley (Premier), Madam Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor, and Barbarina in Le Nozze Di Figaro. She was also looking forward to performing the roles of Josephine in H.M.S Pinafore and Tytania in Midsummer Night’s Dream throughout 2020. Since moving to the United Kingdom Sarah has performed Mrs. Paskova/Chocholka in The Cunning Little Vixen and Controller in Flight (RNCM), as well as The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute with Woodbridge Opera and Mrs. Anderssen/Nordstrom in A Little Night Music at Buxton Opera where she was a Young Artist this year. In the final year of her Master’s degree at the RNCM Sarah performed the roles of Zerbinetta in Ariadne Auf Naxos and Susanna in Le Nozze Di Figaro.

Sarah has sung in orchestral works including, Orff’s Carmina Burana as a soprano soloist and Cheetham’s Eumeralla. She has also performed extensively for corporate events such as, Merivale Sydney, Mandarin Oriental Hotels, Holland America Line, International Towers Sydney, the Australian Rural Fire Brigade and those at the Utzon Room of Sydney Opera House.

Over the years, Sarah has been mentored by Deborah Cheetham at Short Black Opera, where she has worked as a Soprano and Music educator. From 2018 to 2020, she was also a Young Artist in Pacific Opera, during which time she was awarded a Prue Kennard study grant. In 2019, Sarah studied in an intensive program with Bel Canto Opera, Munich, which was generously sponsored by the Wagner Society NSW. Since moving to the United Kingdom, Sarah has enjoyed working at Buxton Opera as a Young Artist and being involved in workshops with Opera North and British Youth Opera, of which she successfully auditioned for.

Additionally, Sarah is a trained classroom Music teacher with proficient/qualified teacher status and an experienced singing teacher.

Olivia Tringham

Originally from Merseyside, Olivia is a Soprano currently studying with Linda Richardson at the Royal Northern College of Music. At the RNCM, Olivia played Mère Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, La Suora Infermiera in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Sally in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, Fanny Price in Dove’s Mansfield Park and Prima Donna in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. This year she has also performed opera scenes from Verdi’s Falstaff and Britten’s Turn of the Screw, was a finalist in the Frederick Cox Competition 2022 and has been chosen for a number concerts, such as the world premier of Wrigglesworth’s Magnificat with the Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester, Norway. Olivia has a natural draw to character driven music and particularly enjoys tackling musically challenging repertoire.

Professionally, Olivia was a 2021 Buxton International Festival Young Artist, performing as Mrs Segstrom in A Little Night Music by Sondhiem and in a range of concerts. Olivia was also due to be a part of the Wexford Festival Opera 2020 Chorus with a step-out role in Catalani’s Edmea and roles in their pocket operas, but this festival was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. In summer 2022, Olivia will Join Grange Park Opera for Verdi’s Otello, The Flying Dutchman by Wagner, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda and the Excursions of Mr Broucek by Janacek.

During the pandemic, Olivia founded the independent opera company ALLO Opera, with the aim of giving Young Artists performance opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic. ALLO Opera have produced a series of recorded virtual Galas, opera scenes and a live, fully staged version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni recorded in July 2021, in which Olivia played Donna Elvira. ALLO Opera has built an online community of young artists and are trying to re-write the way that young artists portray themselves online. www.oliviarosetringham.co.uk

Camilla Seal

Praised for her ‘unaffected simplicity’ (Classical Source) and ‘velvety mezzo’ timbres (The Telegraph), Camilla made her debut at Buxton International Festival as Prince Charming in Viardot’s Cendrillon prior to her most recent season at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Chorus).

​She graduated with Distinction from her Masters at RNCM in 2022, studying under Jane Irwin and Michael Harper, with the support of Help Musicians. There, she was the First Prize recipient of the Betty Bannerman Award for French Song (2022), the Brigitte Fassbaender Award for Lieder (2021) and the Creative Innovator Award (2021).

​Her other operatic roles include creating Bella in Smail’s new work, Blue Electric (Tête à Tête; Playground Theatre); Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (RNCM); Mrs. Nolan in Menotti’s The Medium (RNCM); Mary in Tavener’s Mary of Egypt (King’s College Chapel, Cambridge) and scenes as Fox in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (Morley Opera); Jemmy in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell (Morley Opera); Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Morley Opera); Don Ettore in Haydn’s La Canterina (RNCM); Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel (NOS Short Course).

​As a collaborative performer, she founded the devising ensemble, the New Renaissance Collective in 2018 and has co-created and performed in productions including Beaten Gold and an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis.

In concert, she has performed recitals for Manchester Song Festival, Clonter Opera and a rich variety of baroque repertoire with HM Sagbutts and Cornetts, Polyphony, the European Union Baroque Orchestra and Musica Antica.

​Camilla came to music at an early age, signing with the cross-over group, Angelis, under Sony BMG. She studied English at Girton College, Cambridge and then Social Inequality at LSE where she published articles for Classical Music magazine on freelance music making. She is also a keen aerial artist and a member of the Salon Collective, where she trains in Meisner’s acting method.

James Holt

James has recently completed postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music where he was generously supported by the Ann Driver Trust and the Alice Orrell and the A&N Kendall Award, where he studied under Peter Alexander Wilson. Previous engagements include Nym (Cover, Sir John in Love) with British Youth Opera, Schaunard (La Bohème) and Marchese D’Obigny (La Traviata) with North Wales Opera Studio, Die Perückenmacher (Ariadne auf Naxos) with RNCM Opera, Marchese D’Obigny (La Traviata) with Hampstead Garden Opera, Burgesses Chorus (Peter Grimes) with Bergen National Opera and as a member of the French Acting Chorus (Silent Night) with Opera North. James has also performed several roles within opera scene programmes including, Ford, Harekin, Steward, Guglielmo, Die Notar and Henry. This summer James was a member of Buxton International Festivals Young Artist Programme and was also invited to take part in a years mentorship scheme with Opera North shadowing the full-time chorus.

Itinerary

6:30pm for 7:00pm: Drinks reception in the Newsroom

7:00pm: Concert

8:15pm: Interval – guests make way to Dining Room for dinner

8:30pm: Two-Course Dinner served

9:30pm: Guests make way to the Newsroom

9:45pm: Prize finale

10:15pm: Fin – Newsroom bar open

11:30pm: Last orders

12:00am: Club closes

Menu

Main Course
Roast breast of Guinea Fowl
Boudin Blanc, Pear and Tarragon
served with Buttered Greens and Ventreche Ham
Pommes de Terre Sables

Dessert
Pear Cheesecake
White Chocolate Sauce