Samantha Clarke

/
  • Soprano

About Samantha

Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a Tait Memorial Trust Scholar.

In the 2024/25 season Samantha returns to Opera Australia as Violetta La traviata and to Pinchgut Opera as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare. She also appears in concert with the West Australian Symphony and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.

Recent highlights have included Contessa Le nozze di Figaro for Garsington Opera; Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte for Opera Queensland, the Grange Festival and in Japan for the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy; the title role in Theodora for Pinchgut Opera; Violetta La Traviata for the West Australian Opera; Musetta La bohème for Opera North; the title role in the Buxton Festival’s award-winning pasticcio Georgiana; Marzelline in concert performances of Fidelio with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Simone Young and the title role in The Golden Cockerel for the Adelaide Festival.

Download programme biography   

Contact

Keiron Cooke

Keiron Cooke

Associate Director
Charlotte Bateman

Charlotte Bateman

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Follow Samantha

Season Highlights

Sep 2024 - Sep 2024
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Mahler Symphony No.8 Asher Fisch (conductor)
Oct 2024 - Oct 2024
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Mozart Requiem Umberto Clerici (conductor)
Nov 2024 - Nov 2024
Pinchgut Opera
Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra) Erin Helyard (conductor)
Dec 2024 - Dec 2024
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Messiah
Jan 2025 - Feb 2025
Sydney Opera House
La traviata (Violetta)
Jun 2025 - Jul 2025
Grange Festival
La traviata (Violetta)
Jul 2025
Winthrop Hall, Crawley, Australia
Les Illuminations Edward Garner (conductor)

Video

Photos

Selected Repertoire

Beethoven

Symphony No. 9

Mahler

Symphony No. 2   •   Symphony No. 4

News

Press

  • La traviata (Violetta)

    Opera Australia
    Jan 2025

    • Much of that achievement is attributable to Samantha Clarke’s remarkable performance as Violetta, the ‘fallen woman’ of the title. The UK-trained Aussie’s substantial voice and fluid grace were a match for the emotional demands on her acting – from soul-searching introspection to passionate joy; to the tears engendered by her duet with Germont, to her quietly dying assertion that she’d become an angel in heaven.

    • Samantha Clarke returns from the 2024 season of La Traviata as Violetta, every bit as impressive as she was when we reviewed the show last year. Clarke takes full advantage of the way the show centres her character with a remarkable performance on both the vocal and physical fronts. With her remarkable soprano voice at the forefront of the show, the tragedy of Violetta is both seen and felt every moment she’s on-stage, made all the more bittersweet by her single moment of happiness.

    • And, with the indomitable soprano Samantha Clarke singing Violetta, this season is sure to succeed. Clarke is magic on stage – her energy, her vocal control and her dramatic command hold audiences captive.

    • Samantha Clarke as Violetta already a year ago on the same stage proved to be utterly convincing with the sheer elegance of her vocal skills and her presentation of this role added further depths in its extremes. While her reply to Alfredo’s Brindisi was still coquettish, all shallow feelings were replaced by self-doubt and the morsels of burgeoning love in the following scene, “E strano.” [...] On the other end of the emotional scale, accepting Germont’s demands and wishing his unknown daughter a happy life in Act two’s “Dite alla giovine” was a clear gesture of a heartbreaking sacrifice. One could imagine a different characterization of Violetta, but hardly a better one.

  • Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Cleopatra)

    Pinchgut Opera
    Nov 2024 - Nov 2024

    • All hail Samantha Clarke! We have a new Cleopatra. Technically secure, acoustically gorgeous and dramatically convincing, she studied with Yvonne Kenny and has inherited the mantle from her teacher, showcasing the many facets of Cleopatra’s story, from Ptolomeo’s bossy sister in Non disperar, to smouldering goddess in V’adoro, pupille. Her lament Piangero la sorte mia is finely nuanced, silken smooth and beautifully coloured. She absolutely rocks her final aria, Da tempeste.

    • Clarke has a substantial voice with a beautiful, lyrically warm quality and an alluring stage presence – a must for this most enigmatic of historical figures.

    • One of the most appealing features of Samantha Clarke’s Cleopatra was just the appropriate reaction to the events of the drama (and Armfield’s direction of it). As Lydia, deceiving Caesar in disguise, accompanied by the muses on Parnassus (excellent ensemble playing, mostly unconducted), she was naïve and alluring. At the opposite end, her desperation found touching depths in Act three’s “Piangerò” that Händel, fully aware of the emotional demands of the aria, wrote in the unusual key of E major. The human factor was delicately demonstrated as she took off her wig and expressed her radiating musicality with portamenti and absolute control of her tone in her lament (“Se pietà”). She gave a commanding performance throughout.

  • Guilio Cesare (Cleopatra)

    Pinchgut Opera
    Nov 2024

    • Samantha Clarke delivers an unprecedented Cleopatra. Her angelic tone, expressive freedom, and captivating acting make famous arias such as V’adoro pupille ("I adore you, eyes") and Piangerò la sorte mia ("I shall weep for my fate") flow and sound anew. With agility and unique melodic invention Clarke embodies the charismatic and intelligent ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt with ease. Her Cleopatra is human and vulnerable, serious and funny, grieving and ecstatic.

    • Clarke’s first aria burst forward with fire and colour in her voice and a thrilling ring across the entire range. Singing from the balcony in Act 2 with a delicately balanced ensemble of nine instruments (the nine “muses”) she created seductive hues of caressing beauty. When desolation struck in Act 3 she sang doleful descending arabesques with transparent pastel shades on each note, like moonlight on a falling leaf, before leaping back with unbridled youthful joy and coy playfulness.

      • The Sydney Morning Herald
      • 24 November 2024

    • In the upcoming production the role will be sung by Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke, whom Helyard describes as “one of the greatest Australian singers of her generation”. “Sam is a unique artist,” he says. “She keeps every single word freshly alive for an audience and she has an extraordinary presence on stage as well as a formidable technique. I know people will say after they come to this production that they were there when Sam first took the role of Cleopatra, because she’ll be doing it all over Europe."

      • The Sydney Morning Herald
      • 20 November 2024

  • Mozart Requiem

    Perth
    Oct 2024 - Oct 2024

    • Here, the WASO mustered a very fine quartet of soloists, led by fast-rising star soprano Samantha Clarke, along with mezzo Ashlyn Tymms, who recently impressed in Perth as Ježibaba, tenor Andrew Goodwin and bass Adrian Tamburini. The opening Introit for chorus and soprano demonstrated Clarke’s rich warm soprano, its bell-like clarity and even tonal quality. In the subsequent solo sections, Timms’ strong creamy tones, Goodwin’s plangent tenor and Tamburini’s resonant bronze bass contributed individually and all blended pleasingly. The choir sounded a little forcedful at first, but soon settled into a disciplined harmonious stream of sound, with beautiful phrasing in the Lacrimosa.

  • Mahler Symphony No. 8

    Perth, Australia
    Sep 2024 - Sep 2024

    • The tsunami of song subsided to a single soprano, Anna-Louise Cole, then tenor Paul O’Neill, with soprano Samantha Clarke and mezzos Ashlyn Tymms and Deborah Humble drifting in, underpinned by baritone David Greco and backed by choirs in stalls above the stage, drawing in bass Derek Welton.

    • Throughout, the all-Australian vocal soloists – sopranos Anna-Louise Cole, Samantha Clarke and Sara Macliver, mezzos Ashlyn Tymms and Deborah Humble, tenor Paul O’Neill, baritone David Greco and bass Derek Welton – masterfully balanced solo, ensemble and tutti passages with authority and aplomb.

  • Le nozze di Figaro (Countess)

    Garsington
    May 2024 - Jul 2024

    • Samantha Clarke is undoubtedly the star of the show as the Countess, with the impressive dignity and control of her singing, especially in ‘Dove sono’

    • Clarke, definitely a name to watch out for, beautifully captures the majesty of a dignified, desolate figure, taking us with her as she moves from despair to resolution. Her presence on stage is aided by magnificent outfits (design by Robert Perdziola), from a sweeping pink dressing gown in Act 2, to a shimmering deep red shot silk dress in Act 3, to a sumptuous red and gold evening dress in her dramatic appearance in the midnight garden scene at the end of the opera.

    • As the Countess, Samantha Clarke sang a drop-dead gorgeous 'Porgi amor', accompanied by birdsong and warbling clarinets, while 'Dove sono' was no less beautiful, taken at a flowing pace with a seamless legato. She was alert in her recits too, ensuring lines like 'I’m not that girl any more!' really hit home.

    • Samantha Clarke as Countess Almaviva is wonderful. Her graceful soaring voice sails through the Countess’ showpiece arias. Clarke’s volume control is artful. Before the crescendos in her Act III aria “Dove sono”, Clarke would diminuendo slightly before surging upwards with full force. This adds a vast dynamic range and each one hits like thunder.

    • Samantha Clarke's Countess was a perfect figure of melancholy elegance. Far less of a door-mat than some Countesses, Clarke combined great style and lingering melancholy with a sense of poise and strength of purpose. It helped that both arias were beautifully sung, with a luxurious sense of line and creamy, elegance of tone. This Countess might be down in the dumps about her husband's behaviour, but she never forgot herself entirely and was always poised and together. It was a joy to hear Clarke in the Countess' arias and duets, and of course that wonderfully final moment when she forgives her husband.

  • Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Baroque Arias Concert

    Hamer Hall, Melbourne
    Apr 2024

    • The first of Clarke’s three appearances delivered a trio of Vivaldi arias. In a slim, dark-blue gown, subdued but for the bodice’s sweep off the shoulder, she revealed an agile, assured voice with lustrous tone. Despite being marred early on by a ringing phone, Leggi almeno, tiranna infedele (Read at least, unfaithful tyrant) from the opera Ottone in Villa was a moving display of sorrowful expression, with a searching, languid vocal line. Alma opressa da sorte (Soul oppressed by luck, from La fida ninfa) offered fiery drama including rollercoaster Baroque vocal technique. Clarke’s two brackets of Handel arias included a concert highlight, Lascia ch’io pianga (Let me cry) from Rinaldo. Her expressiveness, beautifully formed notes and virtuosic improvisation were delightful. Molto voglio (I want a lot), a much more cheery aria from Rinaldo, was notable for Clarke’s leaping top notes. For Let the bright seraphim, from Handel’s Samson, she played with joy and confidence in her bright upper register. Joined by Owen Morris’s ringing solo trumpet for a duel that showed off Baroque music at its triumphant best, Clarke surely put a smile on every face with this concert finale.

    • Vivacious from the opening notes of her first aria, Samantha Clarke took immediate ownership of the music, endowing it with a sense of fun to compliment her supremely versatile voice. She bounced her way through the difficult Act 1 aria from Dorilla as if it were a plaything. Soaring to sparkling upper register and plummeting to rich, dark chest voice, nothing seemed to beyond her virtuosic powers from the outset. The contemplative and restrained Act 2 aria from Ottone in Villa provided ample opportunity to contrast the high spirits of the opening offering. It also showed another side to the composer’s extensive repertoire. Ms Clarke held the huge audience in the palm of her hand as she negotiated the controlled and delicate vocal line of the piece. In the third and final aria of this Vivaldi set, the highly complex and demanding Act 1 aria from La fida ninfa calls for rapid‑fire coloratura and hugely extended vocal lines while juxtaposing shade and moods within the piece. Unsurprisingly, this item drew enormous audience response and Ms Clarke left the stage to rapturous applause. To conclude the performance, Ms Clarke returned for the two Handel oratorio arias. While her rendition of “With darkness deep” of Theodora skilfully plunged us to the depths of the character’s despair, the introduction of a solo trumpet to accompany “Let the bright seraphim” provided a shimmeringly brilliant finale. The flexibility of Ms Clarke’s voice is quite remarkable: as firm and full at the top as it is confident and graceful in the lower register, with a seamless transition between. This was a rousing interpretation with shades of the younger Sutherland’s bell‑like tone and controlled amplitude.

  • Theodora

    Pinchgut Opera (Sydney Opera House)
    Feb 2024 - Feb 2024

    • When the virtuous Theodora finally enters, soprano Samantha Clarke introduces rich vocal colour deepened with becoming blush, creating a sense of vivid human life in a character who is always going on about how great death is going to be. She exploited Hume’s reserved staging to assume theatrical poses expressive of a yearning for seraphic ecstasy, subtly replacing the erotic with the divine in the manner of Italian Renaissance painters. The final duet between her and Lowry was a superb moment of floating intertwining ribbons of sound, its dissonances piquantly astringent, its arabesques efflorescent.

    • Featuring in the oratorio’s key role, Clarke articulated each word with admirable clarity – a result no doubt helped by Helyard’s meticulousness – and the ‘s’s were timed to the quaver. The theme of her aria “Fond flatt’ring world, adieu!” reminds one of Bach’s earlier “Falsche welt”. Clarke’s voice conveyed precisely what the libretto evokes – a faithful spirit that is at once assured and resigned.

    • Samantha Clarke is exceptional in the title role, playing Theodora with quiet conviction. Exquisitely nuanced and beautifully controlled, she makes a seamless stylistic transition from her recent outings as a Rhinemaiden and as Violetta. Her rendition of the signature aria Angels ever bright and fair is nothing short of mesmerising.

    • Samantha Clarke, in robes of virginal white, sang with the purity demanded of her role as Theodora and mingled her lustrous treble with Lowrey’s in their pair of doomed duets. Indeed, her first words are “Fond, flattering world, adieu!”

    • Samantha Clarke took her character embodiment of Theodora to a whole other level. Her pure, effortless tone and ever so tender and sensitive performance drew so much empathy, she had the entire audience completely engrossed. Lowrey and Clarke’s death duet was profound; I’ve never seen or heard such a cohesive ensemble not just musically but also emotionally, even the final trill in parallel minor thirds was timed in perfect alignment. I really hope that was recorded, it was an honour to witness.

    • Australian soprano Samantha Clarke had already proved her dramatic and vocal brilliance in the same hall only weeks ago in a completely different repertoire, as Violetta in Verdi’s Traviata (Bachtrack). Here, as the eponymous protagonist, she brought out a whole new set of artistic eloquence, demonstrating that in our times, an able musician can and should develop expertise in several historical areas. In their two duets, particularly in the exquisite “To thee, thou glorious son of worth”, Didymus and Theodora confirmed their faith in their God and each other in gloriously formed, often whisper-soft, dolorous phrases.

  • La traviata (Violetta)

    Opera Australia (Sydney Opera House)
    Jan 2024 - Feb 2024

    • British/Australian soprano Samantha Clarke’s determinedly robust portrayal of Violetta in the earlier parts of the opera, gave us someone stronger than the doomed victim framed harshly by mid-19th century mores, abounding at the time of the work’s 1853 creation.

    • Standing out from the excellent cast, Samantha Clarke, as Violetta, sang with perfect command of pitch, dynamics and vocal expression in her astonishingly mature and impressive OA debut. She remained “always free” (“sempre libera”, says the libretto), as her Act 1 aria demonstrated with heartfelt emotion. As an added bonus, both she and Alfredo, Kang Wang, possess credible acting skills and looked their part as young, passionate lovers.

    • You are going to hear a lot about Samantha Clarke in the years ahead and not just because she is an outstandingly gifted soprano. As she ably demonstrated on the opening night of Verdi’s La Traviata, her whole body inhabits the role, her physical persona matching the artistry of her voice. She dominated the stage from the start in this fresh working of Verdi’s classic opera with a distinctive clarity of tone and warmth as the doomed heroine, Violetta. She is no stranger to the role elsewhere but it was a stunning debut for Opera Australia. We’ve had impressive sopranos before performing as Violetta but I doubt I’ve seen anyone carry this off with the same aplomb as Samantha did here. The British-born singer, now based in Perth, looked stunning and sounded bang on target. Obviously, she’s well on her way to being a star.

    • Samantha Clarke, Violetta, was excellent. Reaching the most challenging notes with apparent ease. This is a role where, from memory over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to hear sopranos of absolute top quality. June Bronhill, Marilyn Richardson, Yvonne Kenny, Cheryl Barker, Emma Matthews and most recently Nicole Car. The more than enthusiastic applause at the conclusion was evidence of Ms Clarke’s mastery of the role.

    • As Violetta, soprano Samantha Clarke sang with fluid grace, creating golden liquid sounds in quiet passages and thrilling force at climactic moments. Her stage persona moved magisterially between regal outer presence and inner self-doubt, creating the transformations the character has to undergo in each act in a way that was persuasive and engaging, and fully deserving of the standing ovation she received at the end

    • In her OA debut, Samantha Clarke is a revelation as Violetta. The voice is glorious and powerful, colourful and controlled. She is also a convincing actor and her passage from louche goddess to dying waif is heartbreaking.

    • Australian soprano, Samantha Clarke, makes a particularly impressive Opera Australia debut as Violetta. Her luscious soprano voice, considerable acting skills, elegant demeanour and ability to display her glamorous gowns with the flair of a catwalk model, combine to make her portrayal of the glamorous courtesan transfixing.

  • Das Rheingold

    Sydney
    Nov 2023

    • Samantha Clarke, Catherine Carby and Margaret Plummer created a delightfully light, glistening sound as the Rhinemaidens, ineffectually guarding the gold.

    • The Rheinmaidens get things underway, with Clarke as Woglinde setting the benchmark for the vocal fireworks to come.

    • As frolicking luxury-cast Rhinemaidens opening the epic and lamenting their loss at part one’s conclusion with their harmonised song wafting through the hall’s side doors with harpist Louise Johnson’s notes, Samantha Clarke (Woglinde), Catherine Carby (Wellgunde) and Margaret Plummer (Flosshilde) created an evocative trio.

    • As the Rhinemaidens, Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke as Woglinde, Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby as Wellgunde and Australian mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer as Flosshilde, added just enough gestural detail to complement the vocal differentiation of their trio. On the other hand, the delightful blend of their combined voices symbolized their essential camaraderie when, for example, the gold they are meant to be guarding is threatened by the loathsome Alberich. There was even something thrilling about their extolling of the “Rhine Gold.”

  • Monteverdi Choir US Tour - L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

    USA
    Oct 2023

    • There, and throughout Thursday’s performance, the soprano Samantha Clarke was a font of grace, luxuriating in the music’s beauty with restful patience.

  • Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi)

    Opera Queensland
    Aug 2023

    • The singing was superb from all of the cast members throughout, although Samantha Clarke wound up with the best of all in Come scoglio, which was both technically flawless and sublimely shaped.

    • Anna Dowsley as Dorabella, and especially Samantha Clarke as Fiordiligi, sang their arias with vocal colours that perfectly matched their characters, where the vibrato that many young singers have nowadays developed sounded to advantage[...]Her aria here drew the loudest applause of the evening from the audience, deservedly, for she delivered this virtuosic exploration of all her vocal registers with a passion worthy of great tragic performers.

  • Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi)

    Grange Festival
    Jun 2023

    • Among the four young lovers, Samantha Clarke was an impressively steadfast Fiordiligi, and while her smiles often suggested a roving eye, her “Come scoglio” really sounded as if “this lady's not for turning”. She confidently dispatched the aria’s leaps and later rose admirably to the challenge of “Per pietà”, its anguish creating the evening’s emotional high water mark.

    • Clarke is a lyric soprano who counts Adina (Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, we caught her last year at West Green, see my review) and Violetta (La traviata) in her repertoire, but she was fully equal to the rigours of Fiordiligi's arias and what was admirable was the way that though 'Come scoglio' was sung entirely seriously and with great style, it was clear that by writing this type of aria and this point in the opera Mozart was also making a comic point. In Act Two, Clarke made Fiordiligi's capitulation rather moving and also troubling, it was clear that the act disturb the young woman and things would never be the same.

    • Samantha Clarke’s Fiordiligi is outstanding, with richness, clarion brightness and a ringing top: her Come scoglio is thrilling, her Per pietà moving and wonderfully expressive (and what a frisson, in this house, from the obbligato horns!).

    • Samantha Clarke has everything required for a memorable Fiordiligi; she surmounts the challenges of ‘Per pieta’ with ease, convincing by her soft phrases as much as the grand outbursts and presents her conflicts with dignity.

  • War Requiem

    Hammer Hall, Melbourne
    Jun 2023

    • Soprano Samantha Clarke’s vocal and emotional power commanded attention, whether in the dramatic Liber scriptus or in the sad, drooping phrases of the Lacrimosa.

  • Fidelio (Marzelline)

    Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Simone Young
    Nov 2022

    • [...]the ensemble of the night was the “Mir ist so wunderbar” quartet in Act 1, where Samantha Clarke’s Marzelline delighted beside her father (Jonathan Lemalu), her would-be lover (Nicholas Jones) and Pierard’s Fidelio.

    • Lightness and verve were provided by Samantha Clarke as Marzelline and Nicholas Jones as Jaquino. Both have attractive voices and personalities ideally suited to their contribution to Beethoven’s multi-faceted score.

  • La traviata (Violetta)

    West Australian Opera
    Oct 2022

    • A star is born in Parisian salon...West Australian Opera’s production of La Traviata is faultless, with an outstanding local cast led by a mega-star in the making...Samantha Clarke is a star. And it’s not just me saying it. Word on the street since rehearsals began for one of Verdi’s most loved operas, La Traviata, is that the young woman making her role debut is remarkable...Clarke, from her opening lines, is the one who takes my breath away. Her creamy, clear powerful voice just gets better and better with every scene. Her first duet with Alfredo, “Un di Felice, eterea”, sung through a wall as they fall in love, shows her remarkable control, intonation, and expressiveness. Her pianissimo echo phrases are so perfect she draws a gasp from a lady in my row. I’m sure the entire theatre has goosebumps. The optional high E-flat in “Sempre Libera” at the end of the first scene was extraordinary (often sopranos don’t attempt it). Clarke, who studied at WAAPA and then in the UK before returning to Perth during Covid, is a relative newcomer to the world’s operatic stages. Yet her voice and stage presence are akin to a seasoned global diva. I could not take my eyes (or ears) off her.

    • Singing the role of Violetta was Perth’s very own Samantha Clarke. In an interview with Ellie Caruso, Clarke mentions “I feel it speaks to lots of people and the forbidden relationship speaks to so many various facets of life; tradition that may forbid a relationship, or class.” So often opera stars have a brilliant instrument but lack the acting chops to match. Not only was Clarke’s singing superb, but her acting was sublime; her depth of understanding of this fully realised character was so apparent. I felt privileged to witness Clarke’s debut in the role, and I kept thinking throughout the performance ‘if this is her first Violetta, I can't imagine what her Violetta will be like in ten years’ time!’. Despite the mountainous role she played, Clarke made it look easy, maintaining her well controlled, rich yet light, luscious tone throughout the entirety of her performance.

Discography