Shuna Scott Sendall (born 28 December 1975) is a Scottish

dramatic soprano A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...

opera singer. Sendall originates from

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier * Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia * Irvine Island * Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada * Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut Scotland *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotlan ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

. She is best known as the 2010 winner of the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

Kiri Prize competition.

Biography

Shuna Scott Sendall was born in

Irvine, North Ayrshire Irvine ( ;
; ) is a town and former

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

the daughter of actress Anne Myatt and pianist Robert Sendall. Shuna attended

Hillhead High School Hillhead High School is a day school in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow. Admissions It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow. History Grammar school Until 1972 it was a co-educational selectiv ...

in Glasgow, where she was inspired by music teacher, Irene McLennan, to become involved in music as a career. Shuna entered the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

in 1993, where she studied under the tutelage of Patricia MacMahon and Jane Irwin until 2003 when she graduated from the Alexander Gibson Opera School with; DRSAMD (Performance) in Voice, CPGS - Concert Singer, MMus - Concert Singer, ACE, MMus – Opera and Mopera.

The Kiri Prize

In January 2010, Dame

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December ...

along with

, launched an initiative find a gifted opera singer of the future. The initiative was the BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize competition. Following regional auditions of over 600 aspiring opera singers, 40 were invited to attend masterclasses in London with Dame Kiri, mezzo-soprano

Anne Howells Anne Elizabeth Howells (12 January 1941 – 18 May 2022) was a British operatic mezzo-soprano. Biography Howells was born in Southport, Lancashire, on 12 January 1941, the daughter of Trevor Howells and Mona Howells (née Hewart). She was educ ...

and conductor Robin Stapleton. From these masterclasses fifteen singers were selected to go through to the semi-finals which were broadcast on 5 consecutive weeks on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night. The semi-finalists were accompanied by the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

, conducted by

Martin Yates Martin Yates (born in London) is a British conductor. After attending Kimbolton School, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducting), Richard Arnell (co ...

, Richard Balcombe and Roderick Dunk and their performances were judged by Dame Kiri, Anne Howells, Robin Stapleton and director John Cox. Five singers went through to the final which was broadcast on Radio 2 on Friday 3 September 2010 where Shuna announced was the winner of the inaugural 2010 BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize competition. As part of her prize, Shuna performed "Dich, teure Halle" from

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; ), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265. His name ...

followed by "

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

" from ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

'' with Dame Kiri and

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Catalan operatic tenor from Spain who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, ...

at BBC Proms in the Park in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a , historic Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Parks of London, Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington P ...

on Saturday 11 September 2010 and was given the opportunity to attend a three-week residential course at the Solti Te Kanawa Accademia in Italy.

Scholarships

Sendall is a Samling Scholar and one of

Malcolm Martineau Malcolm Martineau, OBE (born 3 February 1960) is a Scottish pianist who is particularly noted as an accompanist. Life Martineau was born to the pianist Hester Dickson Martineau and Canon George Martineau in 1960. He was an only child but he had ...

's Crear Scholars, and also attended the Lake Placid Institute International Vocal Seminar, working with Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Susan Webb,

Ian Partridge Ian Partridge (born 12 June 1938) is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to co ...

, Patricia Macmahon and Jennifer Lane.

Competitions

* 2011 ‘'Finalist'’ Bayreuth Bursary * 2010 ‘'Winner'’ BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize * 2009 ‘'Finalist'’ Bayreuth Bursary * 2004 ‘'Winner'’ Scottish Wagner Society Bayreuth Bursary * 2003 ‘'Winner'’ Great Elm Vocal Awards * 2002 ‘'Winner'’ Margaret Dick Award * 2002 ‘'Winner'’ Ramsey A Calder Debussy Prize * 2002 ‘'Winner'’ RSAMD Governors Recital Prize * 2002 ‘'Winner'’ Bill Dewar Memorial Prize * 2001 ‘'Winner'’ David Frame Memorial Prize * 1998 ‘'Winner'’ Hugh S Roberton Scots Song Prize

Personal life

Sendall married her childhood sweetheart, Iain Steel, at Inveroykel in a

Humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

wedding ceremony in 2006.

Notable appearances

"Let the bright Seraphim" from

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's oratorio ''

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

'' performed on 14 March 2011 for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

's Performance on 3: The Big Red Nose Show in aid of

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

, and broadcast on 18 March 2011. "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from

Alfredo Catalani Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas '' Loreley'' (1890) and '' La Wally'' (1892). ''La Wally'' was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catala ...

's opera ''

La Wally ''La Wally'' is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. It was Catalani's last opera. The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmin ...

'' and "

Vissi d'arte "Vissi d'arte" is a soprano aria from act 2 of the opera ''Tosca'' by Giacomo Puccini. It is sung by Floria Tosca as she thinks of her fate, how the life of her beloved, Mario Cavaradossi, is at the mercy of Baron Scarpia and why God has seemingly ...

" from

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

's ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'', followed by "

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical '' Meet Me in St. Louis''. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics. ...

" performed with

Bryn Terfel Bryn Terfel Jones (; born 9 November 1965), is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and ''Don Giovanni,'' but he has subsequ ...

and Ella Taylor & Liam Jones (winners of Radio 2's 2010 Young Chorister Competition) performed live on 10 December 2010 for

's Friday Night is Music Night. In 2009, Shuna made a short film for STV entitled 'Happy Mondays'.

References

External links

Shuna Scott Sendall's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sendall, Shuna Scott Scottish operatic sopranos Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 1975 births Living people 21st-century Scottish women opera singers People from Irvine, North Ayrshire People educated at Hillhead High School