Harrogate Festival Choral Course 2010

Introduction

The historic spa town of Harrogate hosted a very successful annual choral week from 1995 to 2006. To meet the continuing demand from singers for a residential summer course based in Yorkshire, the first Harrogate Festival Choral Course was held at Ashville College in 2008. The course concluded with a performance in The Royal Hall in Harrogate. The second course was held at Queen Ethelburga's College in 2009 and concluded with a performance in Ripon Cathedral.

Lynn Hudson, Thom Meredith and Sue Rosborough are delighted to offer a further five day choral course in August 2010, at Queen Ethelburga's College, which is located just 10 miles from Harrogate and 12 from York. The participants will form the Harrogate Festival Chorus to perform Mendelssohn's St Paul in Ripon Cathedral.

The course will provide a full range of choral and performing opportunities, including rehearsals both as a full SATB choir as well as in separate male and female voice choirs, vocal masterclasses and two concerts. Other new opportunities for 2010 include a conducting masterclass and an opportunity for singers to come together informally for madrigal and part-song singing.

We are delighted to welcome Llyndall Trotman to lead our master classes in 2010. Llyndall is a very experienced singing teacher and performer. She worked for Opera North both as a performer and singing teacher and now teaches full time. We are equally delighted that Richard Uttley, an extremely talented young pianist, and graduate of Cambridge University, and Matthew Neville, clarinettist, who graduated in Music from Oxford University will be back by popular demand to entertain us at our informal concert and we look forward once again to their performance.

The timetable will allow participants plenty of opportunity to enjoy the delights of York and Harrogate, with their interesting histories, museums, fabulous shopping, café cultures and award-winning attractions. The wonderful countryside of Yorkshire is just on the doorstep.

Delegates, however, may not even feel the need to leave the delights of the Thorpe Underwood Estate on which Queen Ethelburga's is situated. The Estate covers 100 acres of rural countryside and offers excellent recreational facilities including a sports hall, football pitches, tennis courts and a swimming pool as well as an internet café.