OUR COURSES
Our Choral Programme
How Many Carols? by Paul Ayres
Get ready for a festive musical puzzle with a difference. In this short three-day online course, Choir of the Earth will learn and record Paul Ayres’s brilliantly inventive How Many Carols? (Version II), which weaves 25 familiar Christmas carols over the bass line from Pachelbel’s Canon in D.
Musical Director Ben England will teach the piece step by step, with recorded rehearsals and voice part louder rehearsal tracks to help you learn at your own pace. At the end of the course, you can record your part from home and become part of our final Choir of the Earth performance.
Join us for three days of festive fun - click to find out more.
Theresienmesse by Joseph Haydn
Sing one of Haydn’s great late Mass settings with Choir of the Earth. Over nine weeks of flexible online teaching, Musical Director Ben England will guide you through the Theresienmesse - a joyful, dramatic and richly expressive work for SATB choir and soloists, encompassing the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei.
You can attend the live online rehearsals or catch up from the recordings, with specially prepared voice part louder rehearsal tracks to support your learning between sessions. When the teaching is complete, you can record your part from home and add your voice to our final performance.
Join us to learn, sing and record this wonderful Haydn Mass - click to find out more.
The Stolen Child by Eric Whitacre - with The Gesualdo Six
Learn and record Eric Whitacre’s haunting The Stolen Child in a special collaboration between Choir of the Earth and The Gesualdo Six. Setting W. B. Yeats’s famous poem, the music creates an atmospheric dialogue between a human child and the faeries who call him away to “the waters and the wild”.
Across three weeks of flexible online teaching, Musical Director Ben England will guide singers through Whitacre’s rich harmonies and expressive storytelling, supported by specially recorded voice part louder rehearsal tracks from The Gesualdo Six. You can then record your own part from home and become part of the final Choir of the Earth performance.
Join us for this special collaboration with The Gesualdo Six - click to find out more.
Requiem in D Minor by Gabriel Fauré
Learn and sing one of the best-loved works in the choral repertoire with Choir of the Earth. Fauré’s Requiem is gentle, consoling and deeply expressive, and this course offers the chance to explore its beautiful choral writing in detail.
Alongside the familiar choral movements, you will also have a special opportunity to learn, sing and record a beautiful SATB arrangement of the famous Pie Jesu, allowing the whole choir to experience a movement usually reserved for soprano soloist. With flexible online rehearsals, recorded sessions and voice part louder rehearsal tracks, you can learn at your own pace before adding your voice to our final performance.
Join us to rediscover this much-loved masterpiece from a fresh perspective - click to find out more.
Summer School 2026: Danse de la Fée-Dragée (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy)
Our 2026 Summer School programme concludes with a very special three-day course from Wednesday 5 August, where we will learn, sing and record Danse de la Fée-Dragée - a fun, jazzy setting of Tchaikosky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker, arranged by Leo Hussain and Ralph Allwood.
Our fantastic Patron, and co-arranger of the piece, Ralph Allwood, will be your guide through this light-hearted piece! Learn using our innovative resources alongside Ralph’s unique insights and wealth of choral singing experience. Plus you have the option to submit your own recordings to be part of our final concert performance!
Whether you are a seasoned singer or exploring choral music for the first time, we would love you to sing with us this summer.
Summer School 2026: Lux Aeterna (Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’)
Our 2026 Summer School continues on Monday 27 July with a one-week course to learn, sing and record Lux Aeterna - John Cameron’s choral setting of Edward Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ from the Enigma Variations.
Our marvellous Musical Director Ben England will guide you through this stunning piece using our innovative resources and teaching techniques. Plus you have the option to submit your own recordings to be part of our final concert performance!
Whether you are a seasoned singer or exploring choral music for the first time, we would love you to sing with us this summer.
Summer School 2026: Ndikhokhele Bawo
Our 2026 Summer School continues on Tuesday 7 July with a two-week course to learn, sing and record Ndikhokhele Bawo - a traditional Xhosa song, arranged by Michael Barrett.
Our marvellous Musical Director Ben England will guide you through this vibrant piece using our innovative resources and teaching techniques. Plus you have the option to submit your own recordings to be part of our final concert performance!
Whether you are a seasoned singer or exploring choral music for the first time, we would love you to sing with us this summer.
Summer School 2026: Five Spirituals from A Child of Our Time by Michael Tippett
Our 2026 Summer School begins on Monday 1 June with a five-week course to learn, sing and record Five Spirituals from A Child of Our Time by Michael Tippett, including Steal Away, Nobody Knows, Go Down Moses, By and By, and Deep River.
Our marvellous Musical Director Ben England will guide you through these powerful pieces, using our innovative resources and teaching techniques. Plus you have the option to submit your own recordings to be part of our final concert performance!
Whether you are a seasoned singer or exploring choral music for the first time, we would love you to sing with us this summer.
While we make every effort to deliver our courses as listed, occasionally, unforeseen circumstances may require changes to the programme.
We will communicate any such updates as soon as possible.