Summer School 2022
It’s that time of year again:
SUMMER SCHOOL time!
This year, Choir of the Earth brings us 3 exciting weeks of Summer School 2022, led by Ben England BEM.
Join us for
Summer School 2022
The Programme
Week One: Eric Whitacre - 13th to 17th June 2022
In our first week, we present Eric Whitacre’s gorgeous music. Please see below an in-depth conversation between Founder of Choir of the Earth Mark Strachan BEM, Musical Director Ben England BEM and Eric:
Sleep
Lux Aurumque
Goodnight Moon
The Seal Lullaby
Glow
Week Two: Opera - 27th June to 1st July 2022
A further festival of great opera choruses. Please note - we shall record 2 versions featuring higher and lower voices where necessary!!
Lord High Executioner from “The Mikado” by Gilbert & Sullivan
Lord High Executioner to be sung by Ben England BEM
Easter Hymn from “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Mascagni
With Drooping Wings from “Dido and Aeneas” by Purcell
3 Little Maids from “The Mikado” by Gilbert & Sullivan
Nessun Dorma from Turandot by Puccini
(new choral arrangement by Richard Gowers)
Encore: Modern Major General from “Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan
Major General to be sung by Philip Blake-Jones
Week Three: The Lark Ascending - 11th to 15th July 2022
Choir of the Earth joins the 150th Anniversary celebrations for the birth of the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams,
who was born on 12th October 1872.
We shall learn the Drayton choral version of The Lark Ascending.
This is regularly voted the UK’s favourite piece of classical music (in the annual Classic FM “Hall of Fame”) and we shall be accompanied by Charles Mutter on violin https://www.bristolsymphonyorchestra.com/charles-mutter-bio
Course Director
Following our previous Summer School successes in 2020 and 2021, we are delighted to welcome back Ben England BEM as our Course Director.
He will lead Choir of the Earth in rehearsals for each piece to be sung by the choir. He will teach us LIVE as usual, with the sessions recorded for viewing later on or at any time.
How it Works
We shall learn the music in live online sessions at home with Ben, yet please do not worry if you cannot make some sessions - they are all stored for you to watch later on. We use high-definition LIVE digital broadcasting in our sessions (not Zoom) so there is no interference or sound delay in the process.
We meet regularly in full choir and voice-part specific rehearsals and are given professionally-recorded backing tracks with our own voice part louder than the others which make it easier to learn our own part.
There is no need to be there on time - all our sessions are recorded for you to watch later and as many times as you wish. The online chat allows us to communicate with each other and with Ben.
When we have learned our part, we are invited, if we wish, to record our own voice onto our mobile phone. We do this by watching the conductor on the screen and listening to Ben on your headphones. When prompted, we press record on our phone and sing. As we are wearing headphones, the only sound being recorded is our own voice.
We then send our recordings to Choir of the Earth who combines all voices in a recording studio. When everything has been mixed, you are invited to one online Concert Performance where we play all the finished pieces to everybody.
Timings
For Summer School 2022, we shall operate the following rehearsal times (all UK times):
Mondays
10:00 FULL CHOIR
11:00 - 12:30 - Sopranos
15:00 to 16:30 - Basses
Tuesdays
11:00 - 12:30 - Altos
15:00 to 16:30 - Tenors
Wednesdays
11:00 - 12:30 - Basses
15:00 - 16:30 - Sopranos
Thursdays
11:00 - 12:30 - Tenors
15:00 - 16:30 - Altos
Fridays
15:00 - 16:30 - FULL CHOIR
Scores
The Opera pieces are out of copyright and you will be sent these by email. The music of Eric Whitacre and The Lark Ascending are also in copyright and so we must make a separate charge of £3 for each of the Eric Whitacre scores and £4.50 for The Lark Ascending. If you purchase these scores, they will be sent to you by email as a pdf. You may of course have these scores already in which case, that’s fine!
