Samantha Crawford & Lana Bode
Biography Samantha Crawford & Lana Bode
Samantha Crawford
British Australian soprano Samantha Crawford is equally at home on the opera stage as she is on the concert platform, and who has been praised for her ‘crystalline tone and diction’ (The Arts Desk) and ‘fine cut soprano which brought singing of class’ (Opera).
Samantha made her operatic debut at the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals as Mrs. Coyle in Britten’s Owen Wingrave conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Subsequent recent roles include Ortlinde in Robert Carsen’s production of Die Walküre at Teatro Real, Madrid; Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana at West Green Opera House, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at Saffron Hall, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte at Garsington Opera, the title role in Suor Angelica at Théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau, Agathe in Der Freischütz for Blackheath Opera, Sieglinde in Die Walküre in concert in London, covered Ofglen in Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale at ENO, as well roles at Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Hong Kong City Hall and Schlosstheater Schönbrunn, Austria. Her performances at Teatro Real, both in Die Walküre and Claus Guth’s production of Parsifal, were filmed for television and DVD release and broadcast to cinemas across Spain.
In recital, her performances have included engagements at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Cadogan Hall and the Barbican. Recent performances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Gloucester Cathedral, Verdi’s Requiem at Southwark Cathedral, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder at Newbury Spring Festival, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder at the City of London Festival, and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer at Milton Court.
In 22/23 season Samantha recorded and released her debut album, dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices, with pianist Lana Bode on Delphian Records. dream.risk.sing is an initiative that Samantha and Lana brought to fruition during 2021 and 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 in October 2021. In 2022, Samantha and Lana gave subsequent performances at The Barber Institute for Arts and The Bloomsbury Festival, London. dream.risk.sing the album features the first ever recordings of Crossing Faultlines, Libby Larsen’s songs from her The Birth Project and new arrangements of two songs from Judith Weir’s woman.life.song. It is supported by Arts Council England and the RVW Trust.
Lana Bode
is an American-British pianist, educator and artist producer, whose performance is ‘expertly calibrated’ (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘deeply examined’ (Gramophone). She is highly acclaimed for her performances of contemporary music and innovative cross-arts programming. She performs as a solo pianist and has shared the stage with singers and instrumentalists including Marcus Farnsworth, Alessandro Fisher, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Anna Harvey, Robert Murray, Mark Padmore, Lucy Schaufer and James Turnbull. She is also a member of the Tailleferre Ensemble.
A champion of new music, Lana has commissioned or premiered works by Terence Allbright, Charlotte Bray, Richard Barnard, Scott Eyerly, Kevin Malone, Zoë Martlew, Jeremy Thurlow and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Lana has also collaborated with composers Alison Bauld, Harrison Birtwistle, Jonathan Dove, Helen Grime, Sadie Harrison, Libby Larsen and Judith Weir.
Lana’s recital career has taken her from major London venues to festivals around the UK including Aldeburgh Festival, Barbican Hall, Kings Place, Purcell Room, Snape Proms and Wigmore Hall. International engagements have taken her to the USA, France and Germany, and she can frequently be heard in live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.
In 2019, she released her highly-acclaimed debut album I and Silence: Women’s Voices in American Song with mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons. 2023 saw the release of two further discs: There are things to be said with the Tailleferre Ensemble, and dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices with soprano Samantha Crawford.
Lana holds a BMus with High Distinction from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and an MMus with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she was awarded the coveted Concert Recital Diploma. She was the inaugural winner of the Viola Tunnard Young Artist award, resulting in a year-long residency at Snape Maltings under the mentorship of Roger Vignoles.
Lana is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Virginia Woolf & Music concert project, and a member of faculty at Eltham College and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Lana’s work is supported by Arts Council England, Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Council, Leverhulme Trust, Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust and Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust.
