Tenor Sam Furness has established a reputation for his warmth and brightness of tone, as well as his dramatic power and versatility on both the operatic and concert stage. Described as singing with “great ease and impeccable style” by The Guardian and hailed as “a lyric tenor clearly going places” by Opera Magazine, tenor Sam Furness has sung major roles across Europe: at The Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Zurich, Rome, Garsington, and the Teatro Real, Madrid, reliably earning praise for his emotionally nuanced and vocally assured performance
In the 2026/27 season, he sings Andres in Wozzeck and reprises the role of Lysander in Deborah Warner’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both at the Teatro Maggio Musicale, Fiorentino. He also sings Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor at Longborough Festival Opera. On the concert platform, he performs with the London Bach Choir in Mozart’s ‘Great’ C Minor Mass.
Recent engagements include Cavaradossi in Tosca (West Green House Opera), Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Opera North), Kavalier in Cardillac (Theater Essen), and Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Affair (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), with previous highlights including White King/Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures Underground (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Novice in Billy Budd (Royal Opera House, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro Municipal Santiago).
On the concert platform, he has recently sung The Dream of Gerontius with York Musical Society, Crawley in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘A Night at the Opera’, and Bach’s B minor Mass with the Bach Choir.
His oratorio and concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah and Samson, Britten’s St Nicholas and Les Illuminations, Verdi’s Requiem, and Dyson’s Canterbury Pilgrims.
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Káťa Kabanová (Kudrjáš)
Glyndebourne, August 2025
“Sam Furness does everything right as Kudrjáš”
By Mark Valencia, Bachtrack
“The opera starts with a contemplation of the Volga’s beauty by Sam Furness, who sang superbly as Varvara’s boyfriend, the teacher Vána Kudrjás.”
By Mark Ronan, The Article
“The excellent ... Sam Furness, in the roles of Varvara, ... Kudrjas, bring what little sunshine there is to be had…”
By Barry Millington, The Standard
Tosca (Cavaradossi)
Oxford Opera, March 2025
“Sam Furness, as Cavaradossi, showed impressive restraint while building phrases and a precise placement of the emotional release of each line, bringing expert text declaration to ‘E lucevan le stelle’, his voice exceptionally well supported.”
Emily Arlidge, Opera Magazine
“…Cavaradossi (Sam Furness) who gives an exquisite rendering of the familiar aria ‘O dolci mani,’ translated as ‘Your hand as gentle’ as he imagines his lover’s assassination of their mutual nemesis.”
Stage Talk Magazine
“Sam Furness’s Cavaradossi was ardent and expressive, his soaring tenor filled with passion, particularly in his Act III aria.”
A Young(ish) Perspective
Janáček's Káťa Kabanová (Váňa Kudrjaš)
Grand Théâtre de Genève, October 2022
The three tenors are perfect and perfectly differentiated: with seductive lyricism and intellectual allure in Sam Furness (Koudriach)
Emmanuel Dupuy, Diapason
Lensky, Eugene Onegin
Garsington Opera, June 2021
Sam Furness, singing Lensky [...] absolutely understands how to construct a scene; both his winding up to fever pitch during Tatyana’s name-day ball and his aria as he awaits Onegin’s arrival for the duel were textbook examples of how to achieve progression and an escalation of emotions
David Karlin, Bachtrack,
Furness delivers Lensky’s verses before his death at his friend’s hands in a duel touchingly, with ringing top notes
David Nice, The Arts Desk
Sam Furness is moving as Lensky
Michael Church, The Independent
Sam Furness’s Lensky seemed to radiate puppyish sweetness (Bingley to Onegin’s Darcy?), his aria beautifully shaped and plangently delivered.
Rupert Christiansen, Opera Magazine
White King/Mad Hatter, Alice's Adventures Under Ground
Royal Opera House, February 2020
Sam Furness of the 7pm cast couldn't have been better or more clarion. Barry gives his White Rabbit (pictured below) short shrift until the trial, but the Mad Hatter has instant impact with machine-gun-fire "noroomnoroomnoroom"s.
David Nice, The Arts Desk, 5 February 2020
The remainder of the cast — Sam Furness, Peter Tantsits, Mark Stone, Clare Presland and Hilary Summers — similarly excel in multiple roles.
Barry Millington, Evening Standard, 6 February 2020
Albert Gregor, The Makropulos Case
Opernhaus Zürich, September 2019
The rest of the cast, too, is absolutely exquisite. It is a hand-picked ensemble, from which the tenor Sam Furness as Albert Gregor and baritone Scott Hendricks as Jaroslav Prus … stand out. But it has to be said, rarely does one see an ensemble in which all eleven singers are so utterly convincing.
Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 22 September 2019
Sam Furness performs confidently as great-great-grandson Albert…
Susanne Kübler, Berner Zeitung, 23 September 2019
All the singers were very good vocally and theatrically. Tenor Sam Furness was outstanding as Albert Gregor, credibly embodying the tempestuous young man with a bright tenor…
John H Mueller, OnlineMerker, 23 September 2019
The male roles were also superbly cast, notably with Sam Furness and his nuanced tenor voice in the role of Albert Gregor...
Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 23 September 2019
… Albert, sung with warmth and beauty of voice by Sam Furness ...
Anna Kardos, Tagblatt, 24 September 2019
Sam Furness plays the nervous and infatuated Albert Gregor, singing and playing the role convincingly.
Das Opernmagazin, 24 September 2019
Holy Fool, Boris Godunov
Royal Opera House, June 2019
And there’s no weak link among the soloists... Sam Furness’s Holy Fool lights up the stage with his sweetly-sung derangements.
Michael Church, The Independent, 20 June 2019
Rising tenor Sam Furness makes his mark as the Holy Fool whose innocent, plain-speaking lines devastate the already disturbed Tsar.
George Hall, The Stage, 20 June 2019
Sam Furness makes a strong impression as the Holy Fool...
Hugh Canning, The Times, 30 June 2019
As the Holy Fool, Sam Furness built on the strong impression he had made as the Novice in Billy Budd - he is a tenor to watch.
Erica Jeal, Opera magazine, September 2019
Novice in Billy Budd, cond. Ivor Bolton, dir. Deborah Warner
Royal Opera House, April 2019
Among a strong supporting cast, Sam Furness stands out as the groveling hapless Novice
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, 24 April 2019 ★★★★★
Britten’s all-male opera demands character singing of the highest quality, and this production highlights British male talent spanning three decades... the wide-eyed Novice of Sam Furness, everyone makes their mark in this motley crew.
Amanda Holloway, The Stage, 24 April 2019 ★★★★★
"There is a notable debut from Sam Furness as the tortured Novice, bullied by Claggart into betraying Billy"
Hugh Canning, The Times, 28 April 2019
And then there was the cast of principals, which was up there with anything that seasoned Budd veterans will be able to remember... tenor Sam Furness made a company debut full of promise as the Novice, warmly sung and strongly projected
Erica Jeal, Opera magazine, July 2019
Among the minor characters... Sam Furness’s Novice – broken by a flogging, then turning into Billy’s betraying Judas – are vividly portrayed.
Michael Church, The Independent, 24 April 2019 ★★★★
"In his ROH debut, Sam Furness shone as the bullied Novice."
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 28 April 2019 ★★★★
Sam Furness, making his ROH debut as Novice... an impressive performance in this difficult role.
Melanie Eskenazi, musicOMH, 24 April 2019 ★★★★
There is a host of stand-out performances in the smaller roles... Sam Furness goes from strength to strength in his intensely sung Novice
Peter Reed, Classical Source, 24 April 2019 ★★★
Supporting roles are richly cast, with Sam Furness’s pitiful Novice and the gruff warmth of Clive Bayley’s grizzled Dansker standing out.
Alexander Coghlan, The Spectator, 4 May 2019
The cast was uniformly strong. Sam Furness made much of the Novice’s role, working hard with the text and communicating the young lad’s ignorance and innocence. Furness sang the Novice’s Dirge with honest feeling, as, encouraged by his caring friend (Dominic Sedgwick), he dragged himself the full length of the deck, unable to walk or stand after his flogging.
Claire Seymour, Opera Today, 26 April 2019
Most notable is tenor Sam Furness in his pivotal (albeit not exactly colossal) role as the Novice. The fledgling who sells his soul to ambush Billy Budd out of fear of Claggart is rendered almost sympathetic by the tremulous and yet accurate fashion with which Furness sings of the "floggings and the lashings" he endures as a sailor, using diminuendo and vibrato to suggest total frailty as a sad paradox to a man of his vigour and age.
Sophia Lambton, BroadwayWorld.com, 30 April 2019
Stravinsky's Threni
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, December 2018, cond. Vladimir Jurowski
Among the soloists, tenor Sam Furness and bass Joshua Bloom stood out in their long, unaccompanied exchange at the work’s centre... Terrific stuff, wonderfully well done.
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 9 December 2018
Excellent soloists too, and if I pick out tenor Sam Furness and bass Joshua Bloom for special praise, that is only for the quantity of their solo work in a uniformly fine line-up.
Gavin Dixon, The Arts Desk, 10 December 2018
Flamand in Strauss's Capriccio dir. Tim Albery, cond. Douglas Boyd
Garsington Opera, June 2018
Tenor Sam Furness’s sweet-voiced Flamand is delightfully boyish and ardent, lost in his music, inflamed in voice and heart by his passion for his dual muses, music and the Countess.
Claire Seymour, Opera Today, June 2018
Sam Furness’s tenor is on glorious form for Flamand, the geeky musician with an idealistic passion
Peter Reed, Classical Source, June 2018
Sam Furness was a clear-voiced, earnest and engaging Flamand
David Karlin, Bachtrack, June 2018
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