Jane Burnell
Winner, EBISC 2025
Since winning EBISC 2025 Jane has performed Mademoiselle Silberklang
(The Impresario) with Buxton International Festival, followed by
Contessa di Folleville (Il Viaggio a Reims) and Tytania (A Midsummer
Night’s Dream) with Wexford Festival Opera.
She is currently working with the Reisopera on “To Die For”, singing the role of Barbie! Recently Jane won
2nd Prize and the Audience Prize in this year’s Handel International Singing
Competition.
Next season Jane joins the Opera Studio with Royal Swedish Opera.
Jane says that she is so grateful for the experience of competing at EBISC 2025, which gave her confidence
for performances and auditions. The recordings of Jane’s EBISC performances have been invaluable
for many subsequent applications. Jane highly recommends that this year’s
singers take advantage of the opportunity to purchase their EBISC recordings!
Francesca Lauri
2025 Accompanist’s
Prize
Since competing at EBISC 2025, Francesca has remained the Lord and
Lady Lurgan collaborative piano fellow at the RCM and has worked with the
Samling Institute and Oxford Song.
She has performed at Salle Cortot, Wigmore Hall and the Festival de La
Gente. She was awarded the Viola Tunnard Award by the Britten Pears
Foundation and will perform at this year’s Aldeburgh Festival with tenor Nicky Spence OBE.
Francesca has been a repetiteur for three operas since EBISC 2025
- ‘La Montagne Noire’ by Augusta Holmès, ‘The Hive’ by Harvey Brough
and Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’.
Recently working with Ellen Pearson as ‘Samling and Song’ resident artists,
she has also performed in festivals in Zeist and Barcelona.
Francesca looks forward to returning to Eastbourne this year as a staff
accompanist.
Samuel Mills
2nd Prize, 2025
Since being awarded 2nd Prize in The Eastbourne International Singing
Competition 2025, Samuel has continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Adrian
Thompson. In the last year, he has performed the role of First Armed Man in Die Zauberflöte and performed a recital of Robert Schumann’s ‘Dichterliebe’, having been invited to join the Royal Academy Song Circle.
Samuel says that his participation in The Eastbourne International
Singing Competition 2025 has been transformative. He adds that the
competition facilitated a further expansion of his repertoire and gave
him the opportunity to meet like-minded young professionals. Samuel
adds that the competition
was also a lot of fun! In October 2025, Samuel returned to Eastbourne to
perform the tenor solos in Haydn’s ‘Nelson Mass’ with the Eastbourne Concert Orchestra.
Sian Sulke
Winner, The Nicholas
Partridge Award For
Outstanding Creativity,
2025
Since EBISC 2025, Sian has continued her studies at the RCM where she is
completing her Master’s degree. She has enjoyed competition success,
including first place in the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition and third
place in the Brooks Van der Pump Competition. Earlier this week, Sian
appeared as a finalist in the Ashburnham English Song Awards 2026.
Recent performances include the premiere of the opera ‘Rosalind’ by Peter Hugh White, with Helix Music,
and the Gamekeeper’s Wife (The Cunning Little Vixen) with the RCM International Opera Studio, which Sian
will join full-time this September.
Sian has also recently been selected as a Samling Young Artist.