Dare To Sing! Workshop Facilitators
Get excited about this years Dare to Sing Choral Festival by reading a little bit about each of our Workshop Facilitators.
To find out more about the Dare to Sing Choral Festival itself click here
Craig & Declan
Craig Lees and Declan Davies work as a fantastic duo,
both in large groups as well as with individuals. Their
incredible energy, style, pizazz and sense of humour
make every workshop engaging, fun, exciting,
accessible and brilliant. This year they will be bringing
two workshops to us. “Sing it Out Loud” a large group
workshop bringing the best contemporary
arrangements to life! And then “Sing it to Me” A small group workshop working on solo singing.
Audrey Mattis
Nottingham based Audrey Mattis is an absolutely
expert in her field. Her genuine authentic approach to
people and to life is so transparent and you can help
but feel inspired in her company. Her work covers
being a choir director, event producer, jazz-gospel
performer and she is known throughout the UK
especially for her work with gospel choir productions
and as a director of massed choirs. Audrey will be teaching two workshops, a large group workshop called ‘Bringing Gospel To Life” where she will teach some traditional gospel and really help us get a feel for how to sing gospel from the heart. She will also run a smaller specialised workshop called ‘The Gospel Soloist’ about really singing from your soul.
Ruaidhrí O Dálaigh
Ruaidhrí Ó Dálaigh has an impressive CV of singing
with everyone from the Palestrina choir to the
Maynooth University Chamber Choir, who he
became director of. He currently directs 5 choirs,
including the Ramparts, an all-male close harmony
choir. He specialises in working with barbershop, the
male voice, close harmony and chamber music. He brings great energy, enthuasiam and humour to his work. He will be teaching a male close harmony workshop and a female close harmony workshop, both using introduction to barbershop techniques and style.
Jade O Connor
Jade is an actor, singer and dancer from Kerry
who is based in Dublin. Her work can be found
across various platforms including tv, film,
theatre, visual art and music. Jade will be
teaching choreography at the festival and her
approach is to meet people where they are at,
introduce simple movement, help participants find their natural rhythm, and develop that as a group. We will be aiming the choreography towards choirs and will be learning movement that fits well with choir performance so that everyone can walk away with something practical for your next big show
Declan Davies
Declan is a highly accomplished musician, songwriter, accompanist and teacher. He specialises in song writing, which he teaches at Leeds University. Declan will be available for one to one sessions in song writing over the weekend. These must be booked separately to the festival workshops and will take place on Friday and Sunday.
Eimear Crehan
Our very own Eimear will be leading workshops in creative development, looking at the areas of how to develop yourself further as an artist, how to get over the nerves, how to take the next step in your musical journey and how to be that little bit freer within yourself and acknowledge the creative person that you really are. Eimear is the director of SpeakUp SingOut and an accomplished performer, teacher, songwriter, coach and all around passionate people person. She loves nothing more than connecting with her clients and choir members and helping them get the most out of their voice.
