Online choir reaches operatic new heights
The Self-Isolation Choir will work with The Metropolitan Opera’s Chorus Master, Donald Palumbo, and London Festival Opera in a new Opera Choruses course launching on 21 June 2021.
Disclaimer: Older news articles may refer to Choir of the Earth by our former name, ‘The Self-Isolation Choir’ or ‘SIC’.
The Self-Isolation Choir (SIC) has announced an exciting new opera project, involving Donald Palumbo, the revered Chorus Master of The Metropolitan Opera in New York.
On 21 June 2021, SIC will launch a brand new course, teaching singers five instantly recognisable opera choruses. This will be the Choir’s first foray into opera but, in true SIC style, a star-studded line-up has been secured for the occasion.
Musical Director, Ben England BEM, is no stranger to opera, both as a singer and a conductor. The youngest ever conductor of Bristol Opera subsequently spent five years as the Musical Director of the Bristol Gilbert and Sullivan Operatic Society, and won the National Operatic and Dramatic Association’s Award for Best Operatic Production in 2018. Describing himself as thrilled to be delivering one of SIC’s most scintillating courses to date, he says,
For the first time EVER you can learn, enjoy, record and perform some of the world’s greatest opera choruses with people from all over the world - all without leaving your house. We are so excited to be working with such esteemed artists and musicians and thrilled to be bringing the joys of singing opera to YOU at home.
They don’t come more esteemed than Donald Palumbo, who has been Chorus Master at some of the world’s premier opera houses, including 14 years at The Metropolitan Opera in New York and 16 years at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and also teaches Vocal Arts at the prestigious Julliard School in New York. Speaking about his collaboration with SIC on this project, he says:
I am delighted to be involved with The Self-Isolation Choir’s opera course. This is a new way of involving everybody in this wonderful music and anything which spreads this music across the world is a good thing. I shall help the choir and Ben England with key aspects of the overall shape of the sound an operatic choir should aim for. Singing an opera is not the same as singing a Requiem, for example, and we must employ different techniques to master the sound.
The Choir will also be guided by the incredible vocal talents of Soprano Katherine Blumenthal, Mezzo-Soprano Hannah Pedley, Tenor Robyn Lyn Evans and Baritone Håkan Vramsmo, and will perform alongside award-winning Mezzo-Soprano Helen Charlston. Philip Blake-Jones, Artistic Director of London Festival Opera, will quality assure the SIC backing tracks and showcase the Choir’s work to the opera community.
Those who sign up to the course will be taught the following opera choruses:
Brindisi from Verdi's La Traviata
Habanera from Bizet's Carmen, featuring Helen Charlston as Carmen
Anvil Chorus from Verdi's Il Trovatore
Humming Chorus from Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Va Pensiero from Verdi's Nabucco
Singers will have the opportunity to learn every part of these five magnificent choruses in live sessions with a piano accompaniment and with the Choir’s renowned “voice louder” backing tracks, sung by professional opera singers. Once Choir members have submitted their recordings of each piece - for as many voice parts as they wish - they will be mixed professionally by SIC’s skilled sound engineers, before being premiered at a streamed concert performance on 2nd September.
However, that won't be the end of SIC’s operatic endeavours, as plans have already been teased for a further upcoming opera course, where singers will learn, record and perform the entire opera of Cavalleria Rusticana, including the solo parts – a concept that proved immeasurably popular on SIC’s recent Mozart Requiem course, which offered singers similar opportunities to “be a soloist”.
Further information about this project and how to take part is available on The Self-Isolation Choir’s website at www.theselfisolationchoir.com. All media queries should be directed to SIC’s Communications Manager at communications@theselfisolationchoir.com.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
The SIC Opera Choruses course includes: teaching from Ben England BEM and input from Donald Palumbo; scores; learning tracks sung by professional opera singers; piano backing tracks; sound engineers; an online concert performance; and a photo montage of the participants. It costs £40 per participant and starts on 21 June 2021.
SIC was originally founded as The Self-Isolation Choir in March 2020 as a response to the Coronavirus pandemic, aiming to provide comfort and support to people worldwide who were feeling disconnected from family, friends and society by bringing them together to sing glorious choral works. The Choir has since attracted more than 10,000 international singers and has established itself as a pioneer of innovation, diversity and quality at the burgeoning frontier of digital choral singing.
SIC received special commendation in the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award 2020 and its performances have been regularly featured across the UK media, including on Newsnight and Desert Island Discs.
Further information about SIC’s current, future and previous projects is available at www.theselfisolationchoir.com and from social media: The Self-Isolation Choir on YouTube | @IsolationChoir on Twitter | @SelfIsolationChoir on Facebook | selfisolationchoir on Instagram.