Countertenor Sam Higgins has received national recognition for his “innate musicality” and his “complex understanding of music.”. He has been singing with orchestras since the age of 11. In 2018, he was named a Grand Prize Winner in the Fidelity Young Artists Competition at the Boston Symphony Pops. His Grand Prize award included a solo performance of Bereite dich, Zion from the Christmas Oratorio of J.S. Bach with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Pops in Symphony Hall. On February 29th, 2020, Sam performed Handel’s aria Dove sei, amato bene from ‘Rodelinda’ on NPR’s “From the Top.” In May of 2021, he was awarded first place at the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition.His win at the National Classical Singer Competition came in May of 2020, where he was then featured in the summer issue of Classical Singer Magazine. In February of 2019, he participated in the Metropolitan Opera Guilds High School Singers Intensive as one of only ten singers selected nationwide. In May of 2021, Higgins was awarded first place at the Boston Schmidt Vocal Competition. Sam was selected and attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Vocal program in the summer of 2019.
Between the ages of 12 and 14 Sam performed the boy soprano solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms nine times with seven different organizations. In December of 2015 at the age of 13, Sam was the boy soprano soloist with the New England Philharmonic under the direction of Richard Pittman in a performance of Robert Kapilow’s Elijah’s Angel with baritones David Kravitz and Dana Whiteside. Sam performed the boy soprano solo in the world premiere of Howard Franzin’s The Voice of Isaac in March of 2016 with Baritone David Kravitz and Coro Allegro under the direction of David Hodgkins. Also in 2016, Sam performed Peter Child’s Peace Poem after a Ugartic Inscription for the dedication of the Trygve Lie Plaza at the United Nations compound in N.Y.C. for the Prime Minister of Norway and other dignitaries.
Sam was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestras’ Children’s Chorus for the 2017 – 2018 season performances of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony and La Boheme with maestro Andris Nelsons. Sam started singing with Boston City Singers at the age of four and was a member for eleven years.
Sam has previously studied voice with Corey Hart at NEC, the Director of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, Kerry Deal of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Ellie Shattles of the University of Texas at Austin, and Eiji Muira of MIT. He currently studies under Julia Faulkner at the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music, where he is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Voice/Opera.