Introducing Frankfurt Opera's Iurii Samoilov

Iurii Samoilov as Masetto at Oper Frankfurt

We've been following Björn Bürger ever since we first posted him, as he was instantly a hit with our readers. When we were scouring his upcoming performances, we ran across Ukrainian Iurii Samoilov often sharing the same roles or operas with Bürger at the Frankfurt Opera.

Samoilov joined the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera this season after having been part of their Opera Studio since 2012. This season, he performs sings Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème, the 2nd Knight of the Holy Grail in Wagne's Parsifal, Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni. His debut with the company was as the Embittered Gambler in Prokofiev's The Gambler.

 Iurii Samoilov sings Rachmaninov's Do not sing, my beauty:

Samoilov graduated from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in 2011 and in 2009 he was the youngest singer to ever reach the finals at theNeue Stimmen Competition in Germany.

Last season, he also appeared in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims at the 2014 Rossini Opera Festival. From April 18-26, he'll be at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo to perform in Adolphe Adam's Le Toréador opposite fellow barihunk Andrea Concetti.

Björn Bürger

You can catch him as Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème at the Frankfurt Opera on March 19th, as well as alternating the roles of Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola with Björn Bürger later this season. 

Barihunks Samuel Johnson & Yuriy Yurchuk selected as Jette Parker Young Artists

Samuel Johnson

Barihunk Samuel Johnson, who we introduced to readers last summer, and Ukrainian bass-barihunk Yuriy Yurchuk, who is new to the site, are two of the five singers who will join the Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme in September 2014. They'll be joined by Australian soprano Lauren Fagan, British bass James Platt, and Australian tenor Samuel Sakker.

The audition process for the selection of the Jette Parker Young Artists began last September. 66 artists were selected to sing in the first of three rounds with 25 progressing to the second round involving a one-to-one coaching session with David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Programme, plus a panel audition for John Fulljames, Associate Director of Opera, Peter Katona, Director of Casting and David Syrus, Head of Music for The Royal Opera, as well as English counter-tenor Andrew Watts and David Gowland.

Yuriy Yurchuk

A final shortlist of 12 singers auditioned on the main stage in front of a panel comprising Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, Kasper Holten, Director of Opera, Peter Katona, David Syrus, Andrew Watts, David Gowland and Siri Fischer Hansen, Administrator of the Programme.
The five new Young Artists will join the six who continue in the program into their second year next season: sopranos Anush Hovhannisyan and Kiandra Howarth, mezzo-sopranos Nadezhda Karyazina and Rachel Kelly, tenor Luis Gomes and stage director Greg Eldridge.

Yuriy Yurchuk sings Aleko's cavatina by Rachmaninov:

The Jette Parker Young Artists Programme supports the artistic development of young professional singers, conductors, directors and répétiteurs. The Young Artists are an international group of outstanding professionals at the start of their careers who have undertaken formal training and have already worked with professional companies. They are not students, but contracted, salaried employees of the Royal Opera House, who work for the company full-time over two years. The Young Artists work on productions for The Royal Opera, singing small roles, covering larger roles or joining the music or directing staff.