In this 60th Season of Scottish Opera (SO), the Company welcomes its 60th Emerging Artist programme since it began in 2009. Initially set up to offer outstanding young singers a period of full-time work to help them launch their careers, the programme now also includes positions for a repetiteur and a costume trainee.
The Emerging Artists have opportunities to perform with SO in live productions throughout the Season as well as work in-house with staff and visiting coaches to develop their skills. Supported by SO’s Emerging Artist Benefactors and Supporters, Elizabeth Salvesen and Jean and Roger Miller Charitable Trust, they will also perform in recitals at University of Glasgow and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Previous Emerging Artists include soprano Jennifer France, repetiteur Jonathon Swinard, baritone Ben McAteer and composers Gareth Williams and Liam Paterson and the group joining SO for the 2022/23 Season are:
Welsh tenor Osian Wyn Bowen, who originates from the harbour town of Burry Port, South Wales. Osian is a recent graduate of the David Seligman Opera School at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; Australian soprano Zoe Drummond who is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the Melba Opera Trust; Glasgow-based baritone Colin Murray who is s and graduate of the Alexander Gibson Opera School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is an in-demand concert soloist, award-winning ensemble singer; returning for a second Season is mezzo-soprano Lea Shaw ; an award-winning Black/BIPOC mezzo-soprano from Colorado, who studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she received her Masters of Music, and a Masters of Opera from the Alexander Gibson Opera School; Bulgarian pianist and repetiteur Kristina Yorgova who graduated with a MMus from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she studied with Petras Geniusas and Fali Pavri and costume trainee Isabelle Mercier who is originally from Melbourne, Australia, and moved to the UK in 2018 to study at the Arts University Plymouth completing a Bachelors of Costume Production and Associated Crafts in 2021.
Deputy Head of Costume Emma Butchart said “We are very pleased to welcome Isabelle, our latest Costume Trainee, to the team. She started off with a bang as Assistant Supervisor to our Head of Costume, Lorna Price, on our recent production of Ainadamar. Isabelle’s continuing her training in all areas of the costume department and has now begun in the workroom on our upcoming productions of Il trittico and Carmen. During her yearlong traineeship, she will have the pleasure of joining the running wardrobe team on one of our productions. We have no doubt it will be another successful partnership.”
Performance Diary is as follows:
1st December
University of Glasgow, 1.10pm
2nd December
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, 1pm
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 