Koor Launches series of Festive Workshops to get everyone singing together again this Christmas

Koor, a free app making individual choral practise enjoyable, launches a series of festive workshops to enable people to share the joy of singing from the safety of their own homes.

Article Source: Koor
Last Updated: 18 November 2020 15:08

Taught by singers from some of the world’s top professional choirs, workshops will enable people to share the joy of singing from the safety of their own homes.

Koor, a free app that helps choral singers learn, improve and enjoy singing, has launched a series of festive workshops that will enable people to share the joy of singing from the safety of their own homes this year.

Taught by singers from some of the world’s top professional choirs, the programme has been designed to restore the joy of singing and will offer a choice of 3 different courses, culminating in exclusive online performances each work, streamed live from Saint John’s Smith Square and the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, London.

Simon Capet, founder and CEO of Koor comments, “The ever-changing guidelines and fear of a pre-Christmas widespread lockdown makes this a time of year where most choral singers will miss singing together the most.

“Not being able to sing together in summer has been hard, but Christmas is the time where we all look forward to concerts and carol services bringing us all together to share and enjoy the music, and that is exactly why we have created these workshops.”

Each of the three courses will be led by singers from some of the world’s top professional choirs and will help with developing not only an understanding of each work but choral and vocal technique as well.

Courses available include:

Programme 1: Messiah - G. F. Handel - What would Christmas be without at least something from Messiah? Let’s explore the Christmas section of this well-loved Oratorio.

Professionals: Emma Walshe (soprano), Martha McLorinan (mezzo soprano), Jeremy Budd (tenor) and Jonathan Brown (bass).

Workshops: 12th, 19th, 26th Nov; 3rd, 10th Dec.
Performance: 11th December, Saint John's Smith Square.

Programme 2: Mass in C - Ludwig van Beethoven - 2020 is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Celebrate by learning his glorious Mass in C.

Professionals: Zoe Brookshaw (soprano), Clare Lloyd-Griffiths (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo soprano), Peter Davoren (tenor) and William Gaunt (bass).

Workshops: 11th, 18th, 26th Nov; 2nd, 9th Dec.
Performance: 16th December, Blackheath Hall

Programme 3: In Terra Pax - A programme of beautiful English Christmas music from the 20th and 21st Centuries. Works will include Ralph Vaughn Williams - Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Gustav Holst - Christmas Day and contemporary carols by Kim André Arnesen, Becky McGlade, Kim Porter, Hywel Davies, Paul Fincham and Ed Newton-Rex

Professionals: Miriam Allan (soprano), Hannah Cooke (mezzo soprano), Edward Ross (tenor) and Robert Davies (bass).

Workshops: 17th, 24th Nov; 1st, 8th, 15th Dec.
Christmas Concert: 21st December, Saint John's Square Square.

Each workshop and the concert start at 7:30 PM (GMT). The workshops will be 90 minutes long and are completely free of charge. Registration for the workshops will be via the website https://about.koor.app/