• 08:30

Registration

• 09:00

Festival Welcome

Presented by Founder and Producer of the UK Choir Festival, Russell Scott.

• 09:15

Morning Warm Up

This inviogorating and lively warmup to start the day off, led by one of our esteemed workshop leaders.

• 09:30
• Suzzie Vango

Exploring the Voice with Suzzie Vango

Join Suzzie Vango, international vocal coach, composer and co-author of the award winning ultimate choral warm-up book, 'How to make your choir sound awesome', as she takes you through a vocal exploration. With a focus on vocal technique, aural skills and - most importantly - fun, Suzzie will take you through your paces with a mix of fun vocal exercises, traditional and contemporary pieces, improvisation, adding harmonies and really exploring your voice to its full potential.

• 10:30

Morning Break

• 10:50
• Craig Lees

Don't Stop the Pop with Craig Lees

Singing rock and pop repertoire with your choir is now more popular than ever. But how do you ensure your performances truly stand out? In this exciting workshop we'll explore the secrets to crafting dynamic, authentic, and stylistically aware performances that both your choir and audiences will love. Together we will dive into the tools and techniques needed for singing, performing, and arranging Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) with your choir and we'll create a fun and engaging musical arrangement that you can take back to your choir and enjoy singing.

• 11:50
• Emily Dickens

The A Cappella Masterclass with Emily Dickens

Explore the different vocal colours, techniques and instrumental sounds fundamental in creating exciting a cappella in this workshop with leading choral director and soprano Emily Dickens. Learn how to underpin the ensemble as the bass, establish a groove and swing, approach stylistic vocal percussion and harmonise with beautiful blend through interesting, challenging and fun arrangements. Expect to dance out of the hall singing!

• 12:50

Lunch Break & Rehearsals

Choirs will be allocated slots during the extended lunch break to rehearse in preparation for the afternoon Performance Session.

• 14:10

Afternoon Warm Up

Before the afternoon session kicks off, one of our workshop leaders will get your voices warmed up once again, ready for the final workshops.

• 14:20
• Howard Francis

The Gospel Workshop with Howard Francis

Howard Francis is one of the UK’s finest gospel songwriters. With over 40 years experience working with choirs, he knows exactly how to create those amazing gospel harmonies. Having helped to pioneer the famous London Community Gospel Choir, he now heads up The BIG Sing Choir. Come along and learn some gospel singing techniques with that popular Norman Hutchins classic gospel song: I Really Love You. Howard is ready to teach you all the nuances of singing gospel. He will work on how sing with phrasing and dynamics as well as creating that rich gospel sound. Don’t miss this one!

• 15:20

Afternoon Break

• 15:40
• All Workshop Leaders

The Joint Session

This final workshop is a collaboration by all the workshop leaders of the day working on one single piece in a Masterclass format, whilst giving everyone the opportunity to take part. Putting together all the learnings of the day, this session is aimed at consolidating whilst giving choirs the opportunity to work with all 4 workshop leaders at the same time.

• 17:00

Mini Break

• 17:10

The Performance Session

The Performance Session is often one of the festival's highlights. Choirs take to the stage to perform whilst being adjudicated by our panel of workshop leaders, giving positive and constructive feedback in written form to help choirs develop and thrive even more than ever before.

• 17:55

Festival Finale

• 18:00

The Platinum Sessions*

Platinum Sessions have always played a big part in the festival with invaluable 1-2-1 feedback and Q & A with our workshop leaders. We are excited to expand this further as we split the sessions into 2, so each choir receives 2x 20min sessions each with 2 workshop leaders, giving more value than ever before and much less waiting time as we work on 2 sessions at a time.

• 19:00

Close