Lancashire sopranos Grace O'Malley and Samantha Oxborough to perform hommage to Baillie and Ferrier concert at St Peter's Church in Burnley

Part of the church's Saturday morning recitals, they will be joined tomorrow (Saturday) by pianist, Susan Hargreaves and church organist, Philip Tomlinson for the event which starts at 11am and will be a hommage to Baillie and Ferrier.

Grace and Samantha met as soloists in Messiah in Burnley in this very church last year. They will be in Messiah here again in a few weeks' time. The great singers, Isobel Ballie and Kathleen Ferrier met under similar circumstances some 80 years ago and gloriously and famously sang together until Ferrier's early death.

Ferrier's influence has been present, indeed at times prominent, in both Grace and Samantha's young lives. A full article could be written just about that and so with some songs we nod towards it.

Suffice it to say, that whilst not wishing to copy them the pair can draw strength and pride from being two young Lancastrians singing in a new century with their own repertoire but nevertheless trying to occupy the same space in which they once thrived singing song, oratorio, opera, and duets.

About Grace

Grace O’Malley is a 25-year-old soprano from Rossendale. She is a scholar at Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the Artist Diploma course, studying with Yvonne Kenny. She is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, having completed her Bachelor of Music (BMus) and Master of Performance (MPerf) degrees there, taught by Baritone Peter Savidge.

Grace started singing lessons at the age of six with Chris Broughton and attended Chetham’s School of Music as a Manchester Cathedral chorister at eight. She left at age ten and went on to study at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music for eight years with Linda Richardson. She was the gold medal winner at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 2012.

By using her singing voice, Grace has raised over £100,000 for different charities. This was achieved by organising concerts throughout the UK and producing four charity CDs. For her fundraising she was awarded a BBC Rotary Young Citizen award aged fifteen, and from this has become a founding member of The Rotaract Club of London, continuing her support for many different charities.

Since then, she has been made a Paul Harris fellow, is past president of the Rotaract Club of London and is currently District Rotaract Representative. She has performed nationwide for many Rotary clubs and their conferences.

Grace performed at The Grange Festival 2022 in their productions of Verdi’s Macbeth (where she performed the role of the Soprano Apparition) and G&S The Yeoman of the Guard. She returned for Grange Opera’s 2023 season covering the role of Masha in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and in the chorus of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.

Grace will return to Burnley on December 3rd for her second Handel’s Messiah with Burnley Municipal Choir.

Grace will make her international debut, as a Soprano Soloist with Slaithwaite Philharmonic Opera Tour to China in late December 2023.