Holy Sepulchre, The National Musicians' Church, is delighted to celebrate the arrival of its newly rebuilt Steinway Model D piano. As the Musicians' Church, this instrument is to be used for music-making of the highest calibre but also to enhance causes close to the heart of the church. As such, Freedom Cries Out is the perfect event, featuring soprano Samantha Crawford and pianist Berrak Dyer and music by leading contemporary composers, including Errollyn Wallen, Cecilia McDowall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Roxanna Panufnik and a world premiere by Raymond Yiu.
The concert is a song recital and is called Freedom Cries Out, a programme of new music sung and put together by Soprano, Samantha Crawford, which tells the stories of displaced people and refugees.
The programme touches on themes of Homeland, Exile, War, Family, Hope and New Beginnings. Freedom Cries Out features a newly commissioned song cycle by Raymond Yiu, setting stories from real refugee accounts taken from literary magazine, 'The Other Side of Hope.' It also includes the UK premiere of Shawn Okpebholo's song cycle 'Words Like Freedom,' setting poems of Langston Hughes, and Jake Heggie's 'These Strangers.' These cycles sit alongside selected songs by Errollyn Wallen, Cecilia McDowall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad amongst others. The programme features two newly created songs from arias in Roxanna Panufnik's opera, 'Dalia' (Garsington Opera, 2022), telling the story of a Syrian refugee girl as she crosses the Mediterranean Sea.
British Australian soprano Samantha Crawford is equally at home on the opera stage as she is on the concert platform, who has been praised for her 'unconstricted soprano radiance,' (Opera) and 'crystalline tone and diction.' (The Arts Desk).
A versatile artist, Samantha's opera roles include Sieglinde and Ortlinde in Die Walküre, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, the title role in Suor Angelica, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw, Mrs. Coyle in Owen Wingrave, Regan in Keith Warner's production of Tippett's New Year, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and Ofglen in Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale for opera houses including Teatro Real Madrid, ENO, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals, Garsington Opera and Théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau. Her performances at Teatro Real, both in Robert Carsen's production of Die Walküre and Claus Guth's production of Parsifal, were filmed for television and broadcast to cinemas across Spain. She has worked with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Pablo Heras-Casado, Mark Wigglesworth, Vasily Petrenko, Thierry Fischer, Martyn Brabbins and Sir Colin Davis.
In 2023, Samantha released her debut album, dream.risk.sing: elevating women's voices, to critical acclaim with pianist Lana Bode on Delphian Records. Praised as 'one of the most arresting recording-debuts I've heard all year' (Presto Music), dream.risk.sing includes Charlotte Bray's Crossing Faultlines, a song cycle exploring women's experiences in the workplace which was commissioned especially for the project, and received its world première at Oxford International Song Festival. The album also features the first ever recordings of Crossing Faultlines, Libby Larsen's songs from her The Birth Projectand songs from Judith Weir's woman.life.song. It is supported by Arts Council England and the RVW Trust.
In 2024, Samantha began producing a new programme, Freedom Cries Out, telling stories of displaced people and refugees. The programme will feature the world premiere of a song cycle by Raymond Yiu especially commissioned for the project and the UK premiere of Shawn Okpebholo's song cycle, Words Like Freedom. Freedom Cries Out is supported by the VW Foundation and Finzi Friends.
Equally at home in concert, she has performed across the UK, Europe and Asia. Recent engagements include performances at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, Hong Kong City Hall and Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. With notable repertoire including Verdi's Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder, Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Dvořák's Stabat Mater and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony.
Samantha studied with Yvonne Kenny AM as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music gainingboth Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and graduated from the Opera Course with Distinction. She was awarded the Golden Medal with Honours at the 2017 Berliner International Music Competition; the 2017/18 NSW Wagner Society Award for Emerging Wagner Singers; and, in 2016, won First Prize and the President's Prize at the Wagner Society Singing Competition in London. Committed to the development of young artists, Samantha joined the Board of Trustees at The Australian Music Foundation in 2024.
Berrak Dyer studied at GSMD and the National Opera Studio. She has worked on Snow, Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs, The Yellow Wallpaper, conductor for Robin Hood, Beauty and the Seven Beasts (The Opera Story), Rhhonda Rips It Up (Welsh National Opera), Eugene Onegin, The Dancing Master (Buxton International Festival), assistant conductor on Cosi fan Tutte (ETO), Psychosis 4.48, Phaedra, The Lost Thing, Blue Woman (Royal Opera House). Gigi, L'Elisir D'amore, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (West Green House Opera), La Fanciulla del West, Lakme, La Traviata, Eugene Onegin, Hansel und Gretel, Itch, Tosca (Opera Holland Park). Berrak conducted the Opera Scenes at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2023. This year Berrak will be joining Britten Pears Arts on the world premiere of A Visit to Friends by Colin Matthews and returning to Buxton as MD for Shorts.
Refugee Education UK.
REUK is a London-based charity working towards a world where all refugee and asylum-seeking children and young people can access education, thrive in education, and use that education to create a hopeful, brighter future. We do this through helping young asylum seekers, refugees and their families understand and navigate the education system in the UK, supporting them through their educational journey and advocating for them when they are unable if they encounter barriers on that journey. We also carry out research relating to refugee education and engage in policy change and advocacy where we see structural barriers preventing these young people from pursuing their full potential.
