2025 Choral Workshop: Oxford

Overview

Ticket Prices: £30.00

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Buy a ticket for the corresponding Choral Pilgrimage concert (in the same transaction) and get £5 off.

Our 2025 Choral Workshops are a rare and rewarding opportunity for keen amateur singers to explore a variety of music inspired by The Sixteen’s own Choral Pilgrimage.

Under the guidance of conductor Olivia Shotton and Sixteen soprano Julie Cooper, the workshop include advice on vocal technique (breathing technique, invigorating warm-ups, voice production) as well as performance interpretation and historical context.

The repertoire will be based on music from our 2025 Choral Pilgrimage: Angel of Peace, which offers a slice of tranquillity in many forms courtesy of luminous, purifying music traversing six centuries. From the enraptured songs of the medieval abbess Hildegard of Bingen to the magical realm of a brand new work by the contemporary composer Anna Clyne, nine pieces of music from across the centuries speak of peace and acceptance and the ecstatic joy their reassurance can bring.

PROGRAMME

John Taverner
‘Agnus Dei’ (III – excerpt) from Western Wind Mass
Arvo Pärt
Tribute to Caesar

Listen to the two tracks on Spotify here - https://spoti.fi/4gWVH3N?r=qr Music, plus supporting resources, will be sent out at least one month before the workshop date.

What are our Choral Workshops?

Olivia Shotton

Olivia is a graduate of our Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar programme (2023) and received intensive training from both Harry and Eamonn during this time.

Olivia conducts a range of professional and amateur ensembles. Her recent engagements include Assistant Conductor for La Bohème (Longborough Festival Opera), Deputy Conductor for Messiah (The Merry Opera Company) Assistant Chorusmaster for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (Royal Academy of Music) and Assistant Musical Director for Hansel and Gretel (British Youth Opera). She was a Grand Finalist in the London International Choral Conducting Competition 2024.

Olivia graduated with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music, receiving the DipRam award for outstanding performance, and the Sir Thomas Armstrong Choral Leadership Prize. Subsequently, she was appointed as a Fellow at the Academy, where she founded The CONVENTional Project, a professional early music ensemble specialising in Italian convent music.

Olivia sings professionally with Tenebrae, London Voices and at the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula.

Julie Cooper

Julie has been a regular member of The Sixteen for nearly 30 years. It has provided her with a husband (Ben Davies, Baritone), career highlights and the very best musical family.

Julie started her musical journey aged four, singing along to her Dad’s opera recordings. Much to his disappointment, she has never sung the role of Brunnhilde, but never say never.

Since completing her postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, Julie has performed as a consort singer and soloist around the world, singing with most of the UK’s choral ensembles. Equally at home singing Brahms’ Requiem or Arvo Part’s Stabat Mater, it is always her love of choral music and live performance that remain.

Highlights with The Sixteen include singing James Macmillan’s Stabat Mater in the Sistine Chapel and performing as the soprano soloist in the world premiere of his Le Grand Inconnu.

As well as performing, Julie is a vocal coach and Nutritional Therapist, with a particular interest in vocal health and wellbeing. As well as running her own clinic, Julie regularly delivers talks to singers and students, workshops for musicians and vocal organisations, and is increasingly in demand for her knowledge and expertise relating to women’s health in the workplace.