BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA YOUNG SINGERS’ COMPETITION 2025 – WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Bampton Classical Opera is delighted to announce that the Winner of the 2025 Young Singers’ Competition is soprano Seohyun Go.  The Second Prize has been awarded jointly to mezzo-soprano Emma Roberts and soprano Erin Rossington. 

The winner of the Accompanists’ Prize is Daniel Peter Silcock. The decision was reached after an exciting final on Tuesday 25 November at the Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College, Oxford. The adjudicators were the internationally renowned British singers, tenor Bonaventura Bottone and mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby, and the esteemed vocal coach, pianist and accompanist Ingrid Surgenor.

Soprano Seohyun Go, from South Korea, is a versatile artist praised for her expressiveness. She is currently pursuing Opera Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she began postgraduate vocal studies in 2023 under Samantha Malk. A graduate of Seoul National University, she was a Young Artist at the Korean National Opera’s Opern Studio in 2021 and 2023. In 2025, Seohyun won the Guildhall Gold Medal, following her previous Barbican appearance as soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria. She was also a 70th Kathleen Ferrier Awards Finalist at London’s Wigmore Hall. Recipient of Guildhall’s 2024 Franz-Schubert-Institut Lieder Prize, she deepened her engagement with German Lieder in Austria. Her operatic repertoire includes Donna Anna, Violetta, Manon, Norina, the Controller, and the Queen of the Night. She has performed at the Korean National Opera, Tonhalle Zürich, and Vienna’s Baumgarten Hall. Upcoming projects include Opera Der Wald, Lucrezia, Owen Wingrave, and recital in Carnegie Hall NY.

 Mezzo-soprano Emma Roberts attended National Opera Studio 22/23, is an artist with Samling, Britten Pears and Orsay-Royaumont. A graduate from RCM Opera School 2022, Emma won both 2nd prize and song prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, 1st Prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition and 3rd prize in the International Schumann Competition Zwickau 2024. Emma has performed recitals at the Wigmore Hall, New Paths Festival, Musée D’Orsay and Abbaye de Royaumont, the London and Oxford Song Festivals, Red House Snape Maltings and Aalborg Festival. Previous roles include Polina cover in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades for Garsington Festival 2025, Lorca cover in Golijov’s Ainadamar WNO, Minskwoman Flight, Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel, Eduige Rodelinda, Third Lady Die Zauberflöte, Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice, Lola Cavalleria Rusticana title role in Mascagni’s Zanetto.

 Soprano Erin Rossington was Associate Artist at Welsh National Opera 2024/25, during her time she performed as Cercatrice in Suor Angelica and Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro. Last season she sang the role of Micaëla in La Tragedié de Carmen for Buxton International Festival and has just been covering the full role at English National Opera this Autumn. Other roles performed include, Fiordiligi Cosí fan tutte and La Feé Cendrillon (Viardot). She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. A regular on the competition platform, she won International Voice of the Future at Llangollen Eisteddfod and the prestigious Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize. Erin was a finalist for the Vincerò competition in Verona, Hurn Court Opera Competition and Semi-finalist for Paris Opera Competition.

 Daniel Peter Silcock is a Scottish pianist currently based in London. Recent seasons have seen him perform at New York's Carnegie Hall, and at Wigmore Hall; he has appeared alongside Dame Felicity Lott and Catherine Wyn-Rogers.  He is a Samling Artist, a Britten-Pears Young Artist, and a pianist in Renée Fleming's SongStudio 2024; he was also an Art of Song fellow at Toronto Summer Music.  Recent prizes include the Richard Leech Award, and at the Eastbourne Singing Competition and the International Lied Competition in Görlitz, Germany.

 Daniel made his concerto debut at the age of 15 playing Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Symphony Orchestra.  He is currently on the Song Circle and Academy Voices fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Joseph Middleton and won major prizes for song accompaniment.  Forthcoming projects include recitals in India, including the Mumbai Opera House, and founding SongTide, a new festival for song on Scotland's north-east coast, centred around his hometown of Peterhead.