Choral workshops

With his experience of devising and directing workshops for choirs, and his understanding of what tends to work and what doesn’t, Nick Houghton is a great choice for leading your choral workshop.

“I loved the programme and thought your management of the choir was a lesson in musical directorship…”

The following format is tried and tested:

• 2-hour session in the morning
• 12.30 – 2pm Lunch break
• 2-hour session in the afternoon

Short tea break, followed by

• Informal performance of the day’s work

Workshops can be a means of exploring new material completely unrelated to your choir’s concert programme, or trying music for a future season.

Nick’s choral workshops are based around a theme or a composer, often featuring large-scale choral works that amateur choirs don’t often get the opportunity to sing. The emphasis is on enjoying and getting to know work in a friendly and informal atmosphere. Most importantly, participants have the chance to do plenty of singing – with the aim of finishing the day exhilarated rather than exhausted!

“It seems to me that the success of these day-long workshops depends very much on the manner of the conductor towards the group. And yours is relaxed, encouraging and generally looking for the positive – it keeps everyone happy and it brings out the best in us all”

In recent years Nick has run workshops on works by Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Tippett, Handel, and many more.