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We were so delighted to have worked with our 250-strong Gabrieli Roar choir for our 2026 Summer Residential course, in which they immersed themselves in Handel’s epic biblical oratorio, Saul. Over six days, our young singers joined professional musicians and a stellar team of vocal coaches, led by Artistic Director Paul McCreesh and our Creative Directors, Charles Béquignon-MacDougall and Emily Dickens, as they rose to the challenge of performing the piece at the astounding Ely Cathedral.

Our Artistic Consultant and Alto Vocal Coach David Clegg brought our newsletter subscribers along every step of the way, with his daily updates documenting what we were up to – from tutti rehearsals, masterclasses, sports, talent shows, and even the World Cup Final! As the series proved so popular amongst our supporters, our young singers and families, we thought we’d post them here – for us to reflect on what a blast this year’s residential really was.

David, over to you…

Gabrieli Roar Summer Residential 2026: Day One

While Harry Kane and the gang’s World Cup dream might have ended in Atlanta a few days ago, for 1 Conductor, 2 Roar Creative Directors, 11 Vocal coaches, 9 Pastoral staff, 2 New leaders, 2 Accompanists, 245 young singers and various support staff from their own choirs, the Roar choral dream 2026 is just beginning.

Yesterday we all arrived at Gresham’s School in Holt, Norfolk and the Roar participants had their first rehearsals with Artistic Director Paul McCreesh, supported by Gabrieli Roar Creative Directors Charles Béquignon-MacDougall and Emily Dickens. As is now traditional on the first night, many in the vocal faculty took themselves off to Sheringham to acquaint themselves with local cuisine in the form of delicious fish and chips down by the sea before the hard work begun in earnest today. As I write this first thing in the morning, the school is still quiet but the sun is trying to poke through the clouds, beckoning us to the day ahead. And what a day it promises to be as we aim to hit the ground running in our bid to tackle Handel’s mighty oratorio Saul (which, or course, pleasingly rhymes with our very own Paul!).

Before any Handel is sung, there will be choral warm ups with Charles and Emily, making sure everyone is vocally fit and healthy to take on the choral demands of the long day ahead. There follows a tutti rehearsal with all excitingly gathered for the first time, before we break out into sectionals. I will be taking Team Alto, along with my colleague Rebekah, and we will work in the lovely space of Gresham’s Recital Hall, with its comfortable, raked seating, beautiful grand piano and sliding French doors into the grounds beyond – essential for the temperatures we are no doubt going to encounter over the coming hours and days. The sectionals are always one of the bits of the course I like the most, the time we really get to learn the notes together, and make proper progress so that when we go back into the main hall with the rest of the choir we are all in a stronger position than we were previously. This is also a wonderful chance to form a bond between coaches and youngsters, and great loyalty builds up within voice parts in these sessions. It’s always immensely gratifying seeing faces from previous years reappear and I’m looking forward to finding out who is back this year and building on shared experiences from previous courses.

Alongside these tutti and sectional calls, throughout the day there are individual singing lessons, an opportunity for young singers to either bring a solo piece to a vocal coach or perhaps work on a small section of the Handel that they are finding challenging, while allowing the coach to explore their voice a little bit technically with them. Further to this all the youngsters are divided into 5 large groups for the whole course, this year going under the names of exotic fruits – pineapples, mangoes, papayas, lychees and guavas – and these groups will revolve around different masterclasses, each taken by a member of the vocal faculty, ensuring that all participants experience each class once over the days. The one that catches my eye today is called “From Page to Stage” where my colleague Richard guides people on how to turn notes in the score into a compelling performance, developing the skills performers need to communicate clearly and connect with the audience, building confidence to perform with ease.

Later in the day, for some of the more advanced and confident students there are vocal masterclasses with individual members of the vocal faculty. Tonight one of the options is called Curtain Up! Light the Lights!, a 90 minute Musical Theatre Challenge, taken by our wonderful staff member Freya: I will certainly be heading there as it feels like the perfect antidote to the load of (wonderful) Handel we will all experience in the coming days.

Sounds exhausting? All this is before the main event of the day, the Gabrieli Roar Sports Day, organised by our brilliant and charismatic Pastoral Staff. Billed in the course brochure as having “classic” games like “Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur” and “Throw the teabag into the cup”, who could ask for more? Harry Kane, eat your heart out. More from me tomorrow. If I survive today!

David Clegg

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Click here for Day Two.