Baritone Sam Hird is a Jette Parker Artist at the Royal Opera House. He made his mainstage Covent Garden debut in January 2026 as Baron Douphol in Richard Eyre's production of Verdi's La Traviata.

​​

Other Royal Opera roles in the 2025-26 season: Mityukha in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto, and cover roles Papageno in The Magic Flute and Schaunard in La bohème.

 

In May 2026 Sam appeared in all three operas in the Jette Parker Artists' widely acclaimed Tales of Love and Loss production in the Linbury Theatre at Covent Garden: as Mark in The Departure by Elizabeth Maconchy, Hewson in Making Arrangements by Charlotte Bray, and Krumpelblatt in Four Sisters by Elena Langer. 

​

Roles in the 2026-27 Royal Opera season: Moralès in Carmen, Guccio in Gianni Schicchi, Kuligin in Katya Kabanova, Sciarrone in Tosca, and Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, with cover roles Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

​

His first Royal Opera appearance was in May 2025 when he stepped in to play the title role in two performances of Telemann’s Pimpinone in the Linbury Theatre. In May 2026 he gave a recital in the opera house's Crush Room with pianist David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Artists programme, in a programme featuring Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte, Poulenc's Banalités, and songs by Schubert and John Ireland.

​

He played Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia September 2026 in a concert performance with Brunswick Vocal Arts at St Paul's Knightsbridge.

​

Sam Hird was a member of the Opera Studio at the Royal College of Music from 2024-25, studying with Peter Savidge and Sir Thomas Allen. He previously graduated with a Masters degree at the RCM in 2024 and was awarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal.

 

Roles with the RCM Opera Studio include Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro directed by Jeremy Sams and conducted by Michael Rosewell, which was recorded live and streamed on OperaVision. Opera magazine said: "Sam Hird exuded assurance in every aspect of his performance, including the technically tricky conclusion to his aria."

 

Sam played ​Danilo in Léhar's The Merry Widow, directed by Liam Steel, at the RCM in March 2024. Yehuda Shapiro, reviewing the production for Opera, said: "Sam Hird, singing firmly but with a stylish lightness of touch, owned the stage as a Danilo should, his charm both assured and unforced".

​

​​In June 2025 Sam took part in a Wigmore Hall recital of songs by the late-Romantic French composer Mel Bonis, and made his farewell to the RCM as the Narrator in Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, directed by Sir Thomas Allen.​​

​

Sam was awarded the 2024 Clonter Opera Prize – the annual competition for nominees from each of the UK's top music conservatoires – the Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Competition with the Sinfonia Smith Square, where he became an associate artist, and the Prix Thierry Mermod vocal award at the 2023 Verbier Festival. He made his ​Wigmore Hall debut in 2024.

​

Other roles at the RCM included  Ramiro in Ravel's L'heure espagnol in a triple bill by the RCM Opera Studio, the Ambassador in Respighi’s La Bella Dormente nel Bosco, Biagio in Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni Tenorio, Libby Larsen’s Barnum’s Bird and Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

 

On the concert platform, Sam has appeared as Peer in Grieg's Peer Gynt with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adam Hickox at Cadogan Hall; baritone soloist in Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem with the Liverpool Philharmonic; baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony conducted by Jonathan Willcocks; Jesus in Bach’s St John Passion with Milton Keynes Chorale; soloist in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with St George’s Singers at Manchester Cathedral; baritone soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of St John’s at Dorchester Abbey conducted by John Lubbock, and bass chorus in Leoncavallo’s Zingari with Opera Rara and the RPO conducted by Carlo Rizzi at Cadogan Hall and the 2022 recording.

 

Sam is a Samling Artist and has been generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust and the Richard Silver Scholarship.