News

We kickstarted the Gabrieli Roar academic year with a series of Roar Explore Days in Devon and Derbyshire led by Creative Directors Charles Bequignon-MacDougall and Emily Dickens. Working in partnership with Devon Music Education Hub, we were delighted to work with regular partners at The Legacy Choir, Plymouth as well as reaching new schools in Kingsteignton, Teignmouth and Plymouth before travelling to Derby for a further day of workshops.

Our Devon workshops worked exclusively with year 7 children, exploring vocal technique and incorporating body percussion to help participants feel the beat as they started to sing some simple unison songs.

“A day filled with musical fun, positivity and inspiration”

“We are more inspired than ever to continue developing and expanding the Lipson Choirs … This workshop has not only enhanced our students’ musical skills but also deepened their love for choral singing. We can’t wait to see where this inspiration takes us next!”

“The energy and enthusiasm from Year 7 were incredible – they were fully engaged throughout and showed such creativity and confidence while developing their vocal skills. A huge thank you to Emily, Charles, and Gabrieli Roar for giving our students this unique opportunity to learn in such an interactive and uplifting way!”

“In Plymouth, we’re in a cultural black hole for access to professional choral projects. This allowed the singers to work to a high level and understand the hard work and eventual pay off in terms of achievement.”

In Derbyshire we worked with Derby Cathedral and local community schools, offering an opportunity to get to know us and to start to enjoy singing together as we start the process of recruiting new participants for an exciting project coming up in Spring 2026. Further Roar Explore Days follow in October and November, when we will visit Cornwall, Yorkshire and Oxfordshire to inspire yet more children to explore their voices, build their musicianship and celebrate the joy of singing together!

This week we’ve worked with hundreds of year 7s, introducing them to what it’s like being in a choir, what it’s like to sing in harmony and learning lots of different repertoire. We’ve also seen 100s of primary school children which has been an absolute riot! Together, we’ve been exploring our voices and making some wonderful sounds. We’re hoping that we’ll be seeing them again in the future for some Gabrieli Roar projects.
Emily Dickens

Whilst here, we’ve been leading some Professional Development sessions for non-specialist music teachers, university students and even some of our older secondary school pupils, who have come to learn more about choir leading. In those sessions we’ve been looking at the kind of material that we use to get young people into part singing, to engage them in the enjoyment of harmony singing as well as creating opportunities and new ways for them to explore their voices. It’s been such a joy to share those resources and skills with everyone here and we hope we’ll be back really soon.
Charles Béquignon-MacDougall