Our popular free lunchtime concerts return for a brand new season.

Performances feature classical and contemporary music and will take place in the Performance Space at Tŷ Pawb on selected Wednesdays from 1pm-2pm.

Entry is free – donations welcome.

Samantha Lewis (mezzo-soprano) & Elizabeth Haughan (piano)

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Lewis and pianist Elizabeth Haughan present an intimate recital of British song, with British Sign Language, centred on the theme of enlightenment. Blending music, text (for all audiences) and audience interaction, the programme explores emotional, spiritual, and environmental awareness.

Featuring retellings of folk songs as well as more contemporary works including ‘I Wonder as I Wander’, ‘The Last Rose of Summer’, ‘The Estuary’, ‘King David’, ‘The Cloths of Heaven’ and ‘Song to the Seals’, the recital unfolds as a continuous narrative, with storytelling at its heart.

A distinctive interactive element invites audiences to engage with British Sign Language, enhancing accessibility and deepening connection, encouraging reflection on our relationship with the natural world and all of those in it.

Biography – Samantha Lewis

Samantha Lewis is a Shropshire mezzo-soprano celebrated for her warm, expressive tone, compelling stage presence, and deep commitment to making opera and song accessible to all.

A Masters and Advanced Postgraduate Diploma graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Samantha originally trained in Veterinary Science at Harper Adams University before pursuing her passion for music. She graduated with Distinction, receiving both the Postgraduate Course Prize and the St. Clare Barfield Rosebowl for Operatic Distinction.

Samantha is in growing demand as a recitalist, oratorio soloist, and operatic performer. Recent highlights include developing the roles of The Mother and The Witch in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) and being Alto Soloist in a fully staged Messiah (Handel) with The Merry Opera Company (TMOC, 2025). Other notable roles include Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cendrillon (Cendrillon, Massenet), Martha (Iolanta, Tchaikovsky), Mercédès (Carmen, Bizet) with NWOS, Mary Magdalene (St John Passion, Bach), and Dorabella(Così fan tutte, Mozart) with Cumbria Opera Group, as well as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), La Zelatrice (Suor Angelica), Mother/Other Mother (Coraline, Turnage), and Fanny Price (Mansfield Park, Dove). Samantha was selected for the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Artist Programme Mentorship Scheme, where she was mentored by acclaimed Australian soprano Lauren Fagen.

Passionate about accessibility and inclusion in classical music, Samantha actively incorporates British Sign Language (BSL) into her performances, using visual communication to enhance emotional expression and connect with deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences. Her innovative work took her to the Semi-Final of both the Pendine International Voice of the Future Competition (2022), as well as the London Song Festival Competition. A keen advocate of art song, Samantha was a Song Easel Young Artist (2025), performing Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 24, and was winner of The Edward Brooks English Song Prize. She has also recently become Director of Music at St. Oswalds Parish Church, Oswestry and has since been sharing the gift of sign through music.

Samantha is currently touring another recital programme, along with the one you’ll be hearing on the 15th, celebrating composers and poets from along the route between John O’Groats and Land’s End. This project lies at the heart of her artistic mission: to bring classical music and poetry to communities who may not otherwise experience live performance, to celebrate regional cultural heritage, and to foster accessibility and connection through inclusivity. She has recently brought this to The Whittington Music Festival last month, which was the first festival to actively support signed performances throughout the series, by the singer themselves. She is looking forward to more performances like this throughout the year.

Full Programme:

27 May
Ensemble Cymru – Introduction to Chamber Music
Elenid Owen (violin), Nia Harries (cello)

3 June
North Wales Opera Studio
Eve Callahan (soprano)
Ross Craigmile (piano)

17 June
North Wales Opera Studio
Khrystyna Makar (Ukranian soprano)

1 July
Heledd Newton
Harpist (Pendine Young Musician of Wales 2024 at the North Wales International Music Festival)

15 July
North Wales Opera Studio
Samantha Lewis (mezzo soprano)
Elizabeth Haughan (piano)

29 July
Rebekah Clarke
Solo cello performance