Samuel Downes completed a Bachelor of Music at the University of Auckland in 2019 and followed that with his Honours degree in 2020.

He was a Dame Malvina Major Studio Artist with New Zealand Opera and completed various projects with the company including Don Pasquale Schools Tour, Opera in the Parks, Le Nozze di Figaro and Fidelio.

In 2022 he performed the role of Barone Douphol in Wellington Opera’s season of La Traviata, also covering the role of Giorgio Germont. In the same year he was awarded a two-year Scholarship to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to complete a Master of Music under the tutelage of Cesar Ulloa – which he took up with the financial support of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.