Genesis Sixteen Announces Third Year of Recruits
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Genesis Sixteen, the unique partnership between the Genesis Foundation and The Sixteen, announces its third annual programme for vocal training specific to future professionals working in consorts and choirs.
After nine days of auditions across the UK, Harry Christophers and his team selected 22 new recruits for Genesis Sixteen from 300 applicants for 2013/14. Half of the new choir come from a state school background. The first course for Genesis Sixteen 2013-14 takes place at Magdalen College, Oxford from 12 to 18 August 2013.
“I am thrilled and delighted to welcome the next group of 22 young singers onto the Genesis Sixteen programme. The first two years have, quite simply, exceeded our expectations and we are looking forward to developing this inspirational scheme even further over the next year. I have high hopes for the third group and already see so much potential amongst the new members. Each one of them has something truly special about them so the possibilities are extremely exciting.”
– Harry Christophers CBE
“The fact that so many of the alumni of the Genesis Sixteen programme are already now performing professionally and have taken up positions with prestigious institutions shows that there was a real need for this programme and that Harry and his colleagues at The Sixteen have created something of real value. I’m delighted to welcome the new intake of talented young singers and look forward to watching their progress with real interest.”
– John Studzinski CBE, Chairman, Genesis Foundation
The Genesis Sixteen choir 2012/13 can be heard at choral evensong on 19 July, 2013 at 6pm at St Giles’, Cripplegate, London which will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 28 August, 2013. They will give a lunchtime concert on 20 July, 2013, at 12.30pm at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, London with music by Byrd, MacMillan and Weelkes. Then at Ryedale Festival on 22 July, 2013, at 7pm they will perform highlights from the English secular choral repertoire from Tudor madrigals to Tippett’s spiritual arrangements from A Child of our Time.
Genesis Sixteen alumni success stories include Lizzie Adams, who has been offered a place at Birmingham Conservatoire, Daisy Walford at Trinity Laban, and Will Morgan at the Royal College of Music. Ed Kay has been taken on as a lay clerk at Christ Church, Oxford, and Tom Kelly at New College, Oxford. Tom has also been given the lead role in the Spitalfields Musical Rumpus tour taking place throughout May and June. Angus McPhee and Sam Carl are performing in the Melos Sinfonia tour of The Bear this summer. A group from the first cohort of Genesis Sixteen singers have been invited to perform with the Hilliard Ensemble at The Roundhouse, London, on 21 June.
Genesis Sixteen will train participating singers to fulfil all the basic principles of choral and consort singing, for example focusing on blend, ensemble and tuning, and will make singers aware of listening to, and communicating with, each other, as well as communicating with the audience – an important skill not always inherent in British choral groups. The courses will introduce singers to music from a variety of periods and work on them in a comprehensive and detailed manner. Harry Christophers leads the project along with Eamonn Dougan, Associate Conductor of The Sixteen. They are joined by experienced members of The Sixteen including Sally Dunkley and Tim Jones. There will be opportunities throughout the project for group and individual training in breath control and voice production by a leading singer teacher, who will look at both developing vocal technique and how to care for a professional voice, as well as language coaching by the best coaches available depending on the repertoire being worked on.
COURSES
12-18 August 2013: Oxford
15-17 November 2013: Manchester
7-9 February 2014: London
13-19 July 2014: London
To find out more information about Genesis Sixteen please visit their website.