For more information and to book tickets visit www.surbitonsalons.com

Explore the different vocal colours, techniques and instrumental sounds fundamental in creating exciting a cappella in this workshop with versatile former VOCES8 soprano and musical director Emily Dickens. Learn how to underpin the ensemble as the bass, establish a groove, approach stylistic vocal percussion and harmonise and blend through challenging and fun arrangements. Together with Emily and jazz pianist Michael Horner, those in the workshop will develop a piece of music to perform in the evening at the closing concert of the Salons. Expect to walk away singing!

Emily Dickens

English soprano and conductor Emily Dickens is an internationally established singer, performer and educator. A full-time member of the critically acclaimed British vocal ensemble VOCES8 for eight years, Emily has performed music from Renaissance England to contemporary commissions and American pop, all over the world.

Emily was born in Winchester and was a founder member and Head Chorister of the Winchester Cathedral Girls’ Choir. She read music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she held a choral scholarship, graduating in 2009. Emily began her professional career in the same summer as her final exams, performing in the Beijing National Centre for Performing Arts in China with VOCES8. She has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls including The Royal Albert Hall, Tokyo Opera City, Tel Aviv Opera House, Mariinsky Theatre, Wiener Konzerthaus, National Concert Hall Taipei, Dijon Opera House, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg and the Cité de la Musique, Paris. Emily is heard regularly on international TV and radio including MPR, the BBC and Classic FM; recent highlights include performing J.S. Bach’s Motets live on BBC Radio 3 for the Cambridge Early Music Festival and Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year at St. John’s, Smith Square for BBC Radio 3. A Decca Classics Recording Artist, she has had three albums reach the top of the classical charts.

As a soloist Emily particularly enjoys performing Baroque repertoire. Recent solo performances include Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) at the St Magnus International Festival, First Witch (Dido and Aeneas) at the Utrecht Early Music Festival with L’Arpeggiata, Handel Dixit Dominuswith the London Choral Sinfonia and with The Gabrieli Consort, Haydn Nelson Mass in Houston, Texas, Handel Messiah and Vivaldi Magnificatin Stockholm, Sweden, Mozart Requiem and Bach Magnificat at the Milton Abbey International Festival and Monteverdi Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali at the Wigmore Hall.

Michael Horner

Michael is a jazz pianist who is currently in his final year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He regularly performs in venues both large and small around the UK. Such venues may include Pizza Express, Oliver’s, The Archduke, The Savoy and The Dorchester to name as few. Having worked as a professional musician from a young age, Michael has clocked up lots of experience working on the stage and has worked with a large array of vocalists and instrumentalists alike. Michael is also a very versatile musician who plays in lots of different styles ranging from Classical and Jazz to Funk and Rock.