Hurn Court Opera

Home
United Kingdom
London
Hurn Court Opera

UK arts charity providing quality performance opportunities for the vocal stars of tomorrow

Musical Director: Lynton Atkinson
Artistic Director: Joy Robinson

09/10/2026

⭐️ AUDIENCE TICKETS ON SALE NOW! ⭐️

Want to be among the first to hear some of the very best emerging young opera stars? We're delighted to announce that you can now book audience tickets for the 2026 HCO Singer of the Year competition, held in collaboration with The Grange Festival.

After receiving an incredible 66 entries from some immensely talented singers, our panel had a very difficult job making its final selection.

We will be introducing you to our ten semi-finalists very soon, but in the meantime you'll find the link to book tickets here in the comments section. The competition takes place on Saturday 31 October at St Swithun's School Wi******er and we've included an option for you to purchase a lunch ticket which includes a delicious cold buffet selection with a glass of w**e or soft drink.

As in previous years, our competition is completely FREE to attend for anyone aged 18 and under or in full time education! As a charity, it's important to us that as many young people as possible get to experience the incredible live music and singing performed here - and in doing so, perhaps we are already inspiring the next generation of vocalists ⭐️

29/09/2026

⭐️ 2 DAYS LEFT TO APPLY FOR THE HCO SINGER OFTHE YEAR COMPETITION 2026 ⭐️

Entries for our national competition for young, classically trained singers aged 20-29 years close at midnight on Wednesday 30 September.

With over £6,000 available in prizes and an eminent panel of judges including Sir Simon Keenlyside CBE, English lyrics soprano Kate Royal and Scott Cooper of The Grange Festival this is an exciting and unmissable opportunity for young singers.

As a registered arts charity, HCO’s mission is to provide the opera stars of tomorrow with a platform today, helping to launch their careers and provide much-needed performance opportunities. The competition has become an important and much-anticipated highlight of the HCO calendar.

This year’s competition take place on Saturday 31 October at St Swithun’s School, Wi******er in front of a public audience.

APPLY HERE:
https://www.hurncourtopera.org/enter-the-competition

Royal College of Music Guildhall School of Music & Drama RNCM - Royal Northern College of Music Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama - Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Leeds Conservatoire

28/09/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Prizewinners’ Recitals in Wi******er and Wimborne this weekend. We hope you enjoyed the wonderfully talented and entertaining performances from our two very “cool cats” tenor Quito Clothier, countertenor Will Prior and accompanist Matthew Clemmet as much as we did! We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section.

Quito and Will were two of the Prizewinners from our 2025 Singer of the Year and we knew that bringing them back would be a popular choice.

The competition is just one of the ways in which HCO helps to support up-and-coming young singers as they reach the end of their formal training and begin to pursue careers in performance. This year’s competition is open for entries until midnight on 30 September - get your applications in as soon as possible and you could be taking your place alongside the other entrants at St Swithun’s School, Wi******er on 31 October.

27/09/2026

The scene is set at beautiful Merley House Wimborne for the second of our Prizewinners’ Recitals this afternoon.

26/09/2026

The first of our Prizewinners’ Recitals takes place today at St Paul's & St Matthew's churches, Wi******er. If you missed out there’s a second chance to see our wonderful singers perform for you tomorrow at Merley House in Wimborne - secure your tickets now at the link in the comments section!

18/09/2026

HCO's Singer of the Year Competition plays a huge role in helping to develop the careers of talented young singers, as explained by mezzo soprano Shakira Tsindos, the winner of the Nigel Beale First Prize in 2021:

'Winning the Nigel Beale First Prize at the HCO Competition in 2021 meant a great deal to my career. Financially this prize money contributed to my living costs while performing as a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio, and it provides credibility as I continue to make a name for myself in the UK. As I'm from Australia, I’ve had to build my UK career from scratch and competitions like Hurn Court Opera's confirm to the industry that we are singers to take notice of.'

If you are a young singer looking for a springboard to the next stage of your career, applications are now open for our 2026 Competition, which takes place on 31 October at St Swithun's School, Wi******er.

Closing date for applications is midnight on 30 September.
https://www.hurncourtopera.org/enter-the-competition

17/09/2026

Soprano Siân Dicker is a young singer who has achieved great success since winning the Nigel Beale First Prize at the 2018 HCO Singer of the Year Competition.

'The HCO Singer of the Year was one of the first competitions I had success in, and so it provided me with a great springboard and confidence boost to take the next steps in my career, particularly with the invaluable support and encouragement from the Hurn Court Opera team and supporters.'

Siân’s recent roles include Liza Queen of Spades (Garsington Opera, cover), Mirandolina La Locandiera (Bampton Classical Opera), Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw (Waterperry Opera Festival), First Lady The Magic Flute (English National Opera, Cover), Mařenka The Bartered Bride (Garsington Opera, OperaFirst), Flaminia Fool Moon (Bampton Classical Opera), Contessa Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Holland Park Young Artist Production), Amaranta La fedeltà premiata (Guildhall Opera), Venus Venus and Adonis (Guildhall Opera) and Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte (Hurn Court Opera). Siân worked with the Royal Ballet and Opera on Lost and Found; a project of newly commissioned operas premiered in St Pancras Station in 2022 and subsequently joined RBO for a performance of new operas at the 2023 Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire.

Applications are now open for the 2026 HCO Singer of the Year competition - you'll find entry criteria and forms over at our website.
https://www.hurncourtopera.org/enter-the-competition

14/09/2026

HCO SINGER OFTHE YEAR COMPETITION 2026

Our national competition for young, classically trained singers aged 20-29 years is now open for applications.

With over £6,000 available in prizes and an eminent panel of judges including Sir Simon Keenlyside CBE, English lyrics soprano Kate Royal and Tyler Stoops, CEO of The Grange Festival, this is an exciting and unmissable opportunity for young singers.

As a registered arts charity, HCO’s mission is to provide the opera stars of tomorrow with a platform today, helping to launch their careers and provide much-needed performance opportunities. The competition has become an important and much-anticipated highlight of the HCO calendar.

This year’s competition take place on Saturday 31 October at St Swithun’s School, Wi******er in front of a public audience. (Tickets on sale soon.)

Click through for details on how to enter - closing date for applications is midnight on Wednesday 30 September.

https://www.hurncourtopera.org/enter-the-competition

Photo: Tyler Stoops, Quito Clothier, David Gibson, Patricia Rozario OBE, Will Prior, George Reynolds at last year’s HCO Singer of the Year Competition.

11/09/2026

Meet the second of our recitalists who will be singing for you later this month in Wi******er and Wimborne.

Countertenor Will Prior was the winner of the 2025 Anthony Lowrey Audience Prize and the Roger Higgins Second Prize at the HCO Singer of the Year competition.

Will recently graduated with distinction in his Master of Performance at The Royal College of Music, where he was an ABRSM scholar. He has also received support from the Drake Calleja Trust, the Josephine Baker Trust, the William Gibbs Educational Trust, and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, which awarded him the inaugural Dame Janet Baker Award for most promising singer at audition in 2024. He will join the Royal Academy of Music's opera course in September 2026.

This summer Will joined Garsington Opera as an Alvarez Emerging Artist; he performed in their production of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, directed by John Caird and conducted by Laurence Cummings. In August he also performed the title role in Ralph Bridle's production of Rinaldo at the Grimeborn opera festival.

In June 2025 he performed the principal role of Piero della Francesca in the Royal College of Music’s production of Jonathan Dove’s Seven Angels, directed by Sir Thomas Allen.

Will is a Britten Pears Young Artist (2025–26), receiving the Chandos Bursary, a Samling Young Artist 2026, and a Munster Recitalist (2025–27). In June 2025 he made his Wigmore Hall debut performing French song in a concert celebrating the music of Mel Bonis. Before moving to London, studied and worked in Oxford, graduating with first class honours in Music from Magdalen College in 2021.

Not got your tickets to hear Will sing? Don’t hang around, we have limited space at both venues - find our booking link in the comments ⭐️

09/09/2026

Meet the Recitalists!

We’re excited to welcome back two incredible singers from our 2025 HCO Singer of the Year competition to perform for you in our Prizewinners’ Recitals later this month.

First up it’s Quito Clothier, the 27 year-old tenor from Hampshire who was the winner of HCO’s Sarah Harrison Prize.

This summer Quito covered the role of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’ at the Grange Festival with the BSO/ Lidiya Yankovskaya, where he made his debut in 2025 covering Gastone in Verdi’s La Traviata with the BSO/Richard Farnes.

He also took home 2nd Prize in the AESS National English Song Competition earlier this summer. Quito is one of the 2026 Rising Stars of Voice at the Edinburgh International Festival, and performed at Oxford Lieder’s Spring Song festival earlier this year with his duo partner, Dida Condria.

If you haven’t yet booked your tickets for the recitals on 26 September (Wi******er) and 27 September (Wimborne) you still have time. You’ll discover our ticket link in the comments, for quick and easy booking ⭐️

Address

London

Website

http://www.hurncourtopera.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Hurn Court Opera posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your establishment to be the top-listed arts & entertainment in London?