CHORAL COURSE 3: CAMBRIDGE
Monday 5th August - Monday 12th August 2024
Fee: £1275* - BURSARIES AVAILABLE
📸 By Arevik
SELWYN COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
COURSE VENUE
Simon Toyne has been a Director of the Rodolfus Choral Courses since 2012, leading courses every summer in Cambridge, Cheltenham, Durham, Liverpool, Oxford and York. One of the country’s leading music educators and choral conductors, he received his musical training as a chorister in Exeter Cathedral Choir, later becoming Organ Scholar of University College, Oxford. For 24 years, he was Director of the Tiffin Boys’ Choir, preparing them for projects with the major conductors in the world, including Pappano, Rattle, Gergiev, Maazel, Elder, Masur and Salonen, leading the choir on over twenty foreign tours, including to Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Russia, and conducting the choir in concert with the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Sinfonia Britannica and Philharmonia Orchestra. Under his direction, the choir took part in over 270 performances of operas at the Royal Opera House, also working with the Bolshoi Opera and Mariinsky Opera. As Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Kingston, a post he held consecutively with that of Assistant Head & Director of Music at Tiffin School, the choir broadcast on BBC1, Radio 4 and World Service Radio, and over 20 choristers gained choral scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge.
Since 2015, he has been Executive Director of Music of the David Ross Education Trust, where he is responsible for the development of a music programme for over 14,500 children across 34 state primary and secondary schools in the East Midlands. His work at DRET has included the award-winning Singing Schools programme for primary schools, developing a trust-wide primary and secondary music curriculum, fostering a network of partner organisations including Gabrieli Roar, Nevill Holt Opera, Sing Up, the Royal Opera House and the Voices Foundation, creating a team of professional musicians in residence, and devising The DRET Music Way, a guide for music teachers and senior leaders to develop meaningful music provision in schools.
Simon is a member of the monitoring board for the National Plan for Music Education, having previously served on the Department for Education’s Expert Panels for developing the National Plan for Music Education and the Model Music Curriculum. His chapter on curriculum music in the recent book What Should Schools Teach? was published in January 2021 and is available as an open access pdf from UCL Press. He is the Founder President of the Music Teachers Association and is Music Director of the Northampton Bach Choir.
SIMON TOYNE
COURSE DIRECTOR
THE TEAM
Dónal McCann is the Assistant Organist at New College, Oxford, where he is involved in all aspects of musical life, principally teaching music and accompanying the renowned chapel choir. Before moving to New College, Dónal was organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, where he read music, graduating with a double first.
Dónal is co-principal keyboardist of the Oxford Bach Soloists, and is an international organ recitalist, recently performing in Westminster Abbey, and opening the restored organ of St Lawrence Church, Vittoriosa in Malta. Recent collaborations include with the Instruments of Time & Truth, and he has appeared as a guest soloist with the Ulster Orchestra and Academy of Ancient Music. He is also an award-winning composer, with his music recently performed by the BBC Singers on BBC Radio 3.
His debut album was described as ‘authoritative as well as attractive’ by Gramophone magazine, and ‘engaging and spontaneous’ by Organists’ Review. He will take up the position of Head of Chapel Music and Choral Partnerships at Winchester College in September 2024.
DÓNAL MCCANN
PRINCIPAL ACCOMPANIST
Nicola-Jane has taught several generations of singers at Clare College, Cambridge and her pupils of all voices have advanced to post-graduate study at all the major UK conservatoires. Many are regularly to be heard at Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Opera House, BBC Singers, the Dutch National Opera and in German opera houses. Most recently, a former pupil is currently a founder member of ‘No Guidnce’ - the new BBC Radio1Extra hotly-tipped boy band for 2024. In 2015 she became Head of Singing at Eton College. As a principal soprano, opera work has included Music Theatre Wales, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and BBC Radio 2. Concert work has taken her to the South Bank, Barbican, St John’s Smith Square in London and to the Middle East. She is an ABRSM Grade/Diploma examiner, has taught for The London Youth Choir, National Youth Choir and Rodolfus Choral Courses. Whilst formerly teaching at St Paul’s Girls’ School, she and Heidi Pegler co-edited the award-winning series ‘The Language of Song’ (Faber Music), a resource for learning to sing in foreign languages. She is a Council Member of the Association of Teachers of Singing (Chair 2020-2022).
NICOLA-JANE KEMP
SINGING TEACHER
Nicki is an experienced singing teacher and qualified vocal health specialist who has a long association with the Rodolfus Foundation. She leads the vocal department at the Jersey Academy of Music and co-directs the Jersey Youth Choir, she founded and runs a music charity, Aureole Music, and she works very closely with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. Nicki currently teaches in Jersey, London and Oxford, teaching choral scholars, postgraduate singers and graduate professional singers.
Nicki has had a vibrant and diverse career as a solo performer. She has been associated with several European orchestras, performing at the most prestigious venues in Europe and beyond. She has contributed to the soundtracks of major movies, including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, and many others.
NICKI KENNEDY
SINGING TEACHER
BERTIE RICE - SINGING TEACHER
MASTERCLASSES & WORKSHOPS
Owain Park was born in Bristol in 1993. Alongside his role as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers, he maintains a busy schedule of conducting projects with ensembles including Southbank Sinfonia, Ensemble la Sportelle and Cappella Cracoviensis. His own vocal consort, The Gesualdo Six, tour extensively around the world and have been lauded for their interpretation of renaissance and contemporary music.
Owain’s compositions are published by Novello and have been performed internationally by ensembles including the Tallis Scholars and the Aurora Orchestra. While at Cambridge University he studied orchestration with John Rutter, before undertaking a Masters degree in composition. He is composer-in-residence for the London Choral Sinfonia, and was one of BBC Radio 3’s 31 under 31 Young Stars 2020. The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge recorded an album of his compositions which was nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2019. The Epiphoni Consort released an album of his secular choral works titled ‘When Love speaks’ in 2020.
Owain is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), and was awarded the Dixon Prize for improvisation, having been Senior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral and Trinity College Cambridge. He was a Tenebrae Associate Artist for two seasons, and has worked with ensembles including The Sixteen, Gabrieli Consort, and Polyphony. Owain is also a keen gardener, and when he’s not on stage he can be found raking, pruning, or picking cherry tomatoes.
OWAIN PARK
CONSORT WORKSHOP
John Rutter was born in London and studied music at Clare College, Cambridge. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years; much of his early work consisted of church music and other choral pieces including Christmas carols. From 1975–79 he was Director of Music at his alma mater, Clare College, and directed the college chapel choir in various recordings and broadcasts. Since 1979 he has divided his time between composition and conducting. Today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions are performed around the world. His music has featured in a number of British royal occasions, including the two most recent royal weddings. He edits the Oxford Choral Classics series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs. In 1983 he formed his own choir the Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings, and he appears regularly in several countries as guest conductor and choral ambassador. He holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music. In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, joining a prestigious list of 24 Fellows including John Adams, Pierre Boulez CBE, Kate Bush CBE and Sir Elton John.
JOHN RUTTER
VISITING DIRECTOR
Joanna teaches Alexander Technique to Music Scholars at Eton and Wellington College and is a deputy Alexander Teacher at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She first discovered Alexander Technique whilst a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, when it helped her to overcome difficulties affecting her singing technique. After completing her MPhil. in Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic at Cambridge, she studied Alexander Technique for Voice and Performance in Melbourne, Australia and trained as an opera singer with ENO Baylis. After a number of years working as a freelance singer, Joanna qualified as an Alexander Technique teacher at City Alexander Technique School in London. Alongside teaching and performance coaching, Joanna continues to perform as a freelance soloist and chorister, and as a member of the vocal ensembles CorraSound and the Joyful Company of Singers.
JOANNA SLEIGHT
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE
EVENSONGS
📷 Joanna Harries
TRINITY COLLEGE CHAPEL
EVENSONG
Photo by Connor Wang on Unsplash
ST JOHN’S COLLEGE CHAPEL
EVENSONG
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BURSARIES
The Rodolfus Foundation offers generous bursaries to help with the costs of our courses. You can apply for a bursary as part of the online application process, and all details provided will treated confidentially.
REFERENCES
As part of your application, we request a brief reference from a singing or music teacher. Please note that this reference does not impact your acceptance onto the course. Its purpose is solely to provide our directors and singing teachers with some additional insight about you and your musical experience so far. Please be aware that references are only accepted through our online portal.
AGE RANGE
To attend this course, you must be in year 11 or above and between the ages of 16 and 21 as of 31st August 2024.
ACCOMMODATION
Singers will stay in individual rooms with shared bathroom facilities in the student accommodation at Selwyn College.
*INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: We can only take payments for international applicants through Stripe this year. Course fees will have an approximately 3% card processing fee.