This course is for advanced singers wanting to take their learned repertoire to the next interpretative level, playfully exploring different interpretative possibilities, clarifying dramatic intention and enriching communication so that you feel powerfully connected in your embodiment of your chosen characters for audition and performance.
STANDARD: IMPROVER, CONFIDENT, SKILFUL
Resident: £572 Non-Resident: £435 (25% off for under 27s) Code: 25/338
Booking for Members opens at 9am on Wednesday 27 November 2024
Non-Member and online booking opens at 9am on Monday 16 December 2024
For details on how to become a Member to take advantage of early booking, see here
What is this course about?
Madeleine Holmes (soprano, voice and yoga teacher) and Thomas Coltman (baritone, pianist and vocal coach) join forces in this course to offer participants their experience of working on stage repertoire. A truly holistic approach that takes account of the individual singer, will focus on how to 'embody' your singing, exploring physicality, creativity, character, imagination, psychology and vocal expression. By putting your stage works into the performance space, participants will be able to take their communicative power as singers to a whole new level. Participants should bring 3 stage works that they have learned in advance from memory, and which are technically secure.
What will the course cover?
Each day will begin with warm-ups, including some principles from yoga and somatic practices, increasing inner awareness and quality of breath connection, balancing the nervous system, to enhance vocal freedom and help you bring your whole self into this work. Main sessions will focus on movement, communication and characterisation to bring your chosen pieces alive.
What we accomplish? By the end of this course you will be able to...
It is always obvious when a singer has worked on their singing in a physical space (on stage or otherwise). Having pushed the boundaries of their experience by exploring different options of performing their chosen pieces, participants will return to all performance situations (concerts, the stage, exams or otherwise) with a new freedom of expression and confidence. On the final afternoon we will perform a selection of the pieces in a final sharing that consolidates and celebrates the discoveries made.
How will the course be taught, and will any preparation be required?
Participants will work in a group format throughout, so that all participants can sing to and listen to all the others on the course and also help in creating scenes in the space. Creative input from participants will also be welcome, and peer feedback will be guided by the tutors. Participants should bring 3 stage works that they have learned from memory in advance and which are technically secure. Typically, the time will be divided between morning 'masterclass' style sessions, afternoon movement / acting / individual coaching sessions and evening sharing sessions of additional repertoire to experiment with or let your hair down. For the evening sessions, duets and trio suggestions are welcome, subject to available voices, should participants wish to collaborate in this way.
Is there anything that participants need to bring?
Any solos from stage works, including opera, operetta and musical theatre, which are technically secure and learned by heart before arrival on the course. Students will provide a scanned score of their chosen pieces, int he correct key and edition and with any markings, by 2 weeks before the course start, and bring two hard copies, one for each tutor when they arrive on the course. This is an important part of preparing for the course and helps maximise everyone's time and enjoyment of the learning process. If you are unsure about your choices, please consult your own voice teacher, and if unsure where to find copies of the music, please contact the office in advance, so that they can direct you to sources online or in libraries, including Benslow's own.
Tutor biographies
Madeleine Holmes Lyric Soprano. Since training with ENO she has played Tatyana Eugene Onegin, Mimì / Musetta La Bohème, Giorgetta Il Tabarro, Naiad Ariadne auf Naxos, Romilda Xerxes and Mrs Lovett Sweeney Todd, and created Eve in David Moore's The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Strekoza in Brian Hosefros' Strekoza i Muravej. Recital work includes contemporary song at the New Dots Symposium ROH / Clore and LSO St Luke's, premièring Julian Philips' dramatic monologue Life Lessens at the Bloomsbury Festival and Wigmore Hall, and Britten's Four Burns Songs at The Red House, Aldeburgh. Having worked in a jazz duo while studying French and Italian at Cambridge, Madeleine appears as guest vocalist at the Ritz and in hybrid classical-jazz programmes for INK, New Paths and Dartington International Festivals. Also trained in yoga, Madeleine integrates mindful movement with words, music and drama as visiting vocal coach at The Actors' Richmond Centre, Morley College, Benslow Music Trust, Berkshire Choral International, Dartington International Summer School and Melofonetica. Current projects include a recording of Italian 19th and 20th-century songs discovered thanks to a Finzi Trust Travel Scholarship, and the completion of a narrative memoir travelling the liminal spaces of music and the mind.
Thomas Coltman Described as a “magnificent presence and voice,” Thomas’s portfolio of musical activities has seen him involved as Bass-Baritone, Pianist, Educator and Choral Director.
His piano studies with Yekaterina Lebedeva at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and as a Britten Pears Young Artist led to performances as a collaborative pianist at venues and festivals in the UK and Europe.
After pursuing vocal studies in London, Thomas sang in both UK and European choirs, in opera choruses including the Glyndebourne Festival and as oratorio soloist around the UK. He has sung as soloist at venues including Westminster Abbey and Central Hall as well as regularly appearing in recital and concert, making his US debut in 2024 as guest vocalist at the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival. In opera principle roles have included Figaro (Marriage of Figaro), Father (Hansel and Gretel), Count Robinson (The Secret Marriage) and Claudius (Agrippina).
A passionate educator, Thomas has taught singing extensively in all education sectors, on the BA acting course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and in collaboration with the British Voice Association. He studied voice intensively with celebrated soprano Nelly Miricioiu, receiving guidance from Sir John Tomlinson and also training in the Estill Method with Anne-Marie Speed.
As Choral Director he has led performances at venues including Belfast Grand Opera House, Dublin City Hall, St Paul's Cathedral and Southbank Centre, London. Thomas was a founder of the London Stroke Choir and continues to create bespoke arrangements in numerous vocal contexts.