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19 Apr 2022: Concert Tour to Italy and Slovenia
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Rehearsal Dates
Book Flute Choir
If you would like to book the Flute Choir for an event, simply send us an email with the date, time, duration and brief description of the event that you would like the group for and we will contact you to discuss the details.
Rehearsal Tracks – Members Only
Please login to access the rehearsal tracks to the current repertoire for current choir members only. For login details, please send an email and the details will be sent by return.
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Book GBRT Orchestra
If you would like to book the GBRT Orchestra for an event, simply send us an email with the date, time, duration and brief description of the event that you would the group for and we will contact you to discuss the details.
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Musical Director: Debbie Smith
Debbie Smith grew up in Suffolk and very soon became a successful vocalist and instrumental musician. In her teens she was tutored by a number of renowned experts, including the opera singer Rae Woodland. Having set her sights on a career in music she studied classical music at the Trinity Conservatoire in London, with voice as first study and piano as second.
Since completing her studies Debbie has lived in the Market Harborough area and has been a successful tutor (with her own teaching business), musical director and performer. Over the last three decades she has successfully tutored students in a number of schools as part of the Leicestershire Arts in Education team, as a private tutor at home and at Robert Smyth and Welland Park Academies, at Woodcock Theatre Arts South Leicestershire Performing Arts Academy and has directed vocal workshops for all ages.
Debbie has a strong record as a musical director of choirs and continues to lead choirs in schools and in the community, including the GBRT choir and Valley Voice, the adult community choir based in the Welland Valley. Under Debbie?s leadership the Robert Smyth Academy choir has gained repeated success in competitions including Rotary Club Young Musician and Music for Youth.
Debbie is able to engage with popular and theatrical genres in addition to classical material and has been a key member of the team involved in the production of many concerts, shows and international performance tours. In her own right Debbie has performed locally in a number of bands in various styles and enjoys performing as well as enabling others to perform.
Accompanist: Michael Dando
Mike has been playing the piano since the age of 7 and has been engaged as an accompanist / MD with a number of local groups and organisations. He is currently the accompanist for Valley Voice community choir on the Northamptonshire / Leicestershire border.
Book Carnival Drums
If you would like to book Carnival Drums for an event, simply send us an email with the date, time, duration and brief description of the event that you would the group for and we will contact you to discuss the details.
Book Adult Vocal Choir
If you would like to book this choir for an event, simply send us an email with the date, time, duration and brief description of the event that you would the group for and we will contact you to discuss the details.
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Musical Director: Tracey Holderness
Tracey is a singing teacher and vocal coach from Market Harborough. After graduating from Sheffield University with a BMus, she gained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Musical Theatre from Arts Educational in London.
Tracey has worked for eight years as a professional singer during which time she performed as a soloist with light operatic companies and performed in a wide variety of musical theatre productions, most notably in the Rocky Horror Show and Return to the Forbidden Planet, both in the UK and Europe. Tracey teaches singing both privately and as a specialist teacher visiting several schools in the area.
Tracey currently leads several choirs for children including Great Bowden C of E Primary Academy school choir. She has also accumulated vast experience with amateur musical groups and companies including delivering technique workshops to adult choirs and leading Musical Theatre courses. She is the original conductor of the GBRT Adult Vocal Choir and has toured with them to Barcelona, Bruges, Maastricht, Lake Garda and Rhineland.
Accompanist: John Dilleigh
John has been accompanying for more than fifty years and has performed in several European countries and Sudan. With a particular interest in vocal music he has worked with numerous vocal ensembles and has partnered with many wonderful vocal soloists. He is proud to be the long standing accompanist for the GBRT Adult Vocal Choir and previously the Youth Vocal Choir and so far has toured Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany with them.
Musical Director: Ceri Howells
Ceri Howells is a drummer and percussionist based in Nottingham, UK. He has been playing percussive instruments of one form or another for well over twenty years and his time as a teacher and facilitator for individuals and large groups runs for over a decade.
He made his start in music on the drum kit which is where he still spends much of his time playing and teaching. He has been involved in and still play with a variety of bands with many recordings produced over the years. As time progressed, he found himself drawn towards many styles of music from all over the globe becoming particularly fond of Brazilian musical traditions and Malaysian Gamelan along the way.
This diverse variety of music in his life is something that has kept him extremely passionate about all his playing and teaching. In his last year, as a musician he has been able to travel to the World Gamelan Festival in Malaysia as part of Kayu Gangsa (a UK based group that uniquely fuses traditional Malaysian Gamelan composition with contemporary musical elements and western instruments). He was also part of a UK Samba Bateria that travelled to Rio de Janeiro for a series of performances as ‘Carnival Transatlantico’. They were honoured to play some of the city’s most famous venues with a variety of fantastic Brazilian musicians. This tour made a small piece of Samba history by becoming the first ever completely foreign Bateria to be listed as part of the official guide to the Rio carnival and its wealth of music and celebration.
Musical Director: Joanna Preston
Born and raised in Leicestershire, Joanna began her studies on the Flute with Jenny Brooks and Leicestershire Arts in Education. Joanna continued at the Birmingham Conservatoire where she gained a First Class Honours degree and a commended Advanced PGDip Music (Professional Performance). She studied with Jonathan Rimmer, Judith Hall and Colin Lilley and received the Principal’s Prize for Outstanding Contribution. Joanna also won awards from the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music Prize, Woolfsen Trust and Tillet Trust Foundation alongside being awarded a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
Joanna is in regular demand as a freelance orchestral player. She has most recently performed as Principal Flute with the London Concert Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera and the National Festival Orchestra. Joanna is a member of Trio Capriccio who perform nationally and have given a recital for a live BBC broadcast. She has also enjoyed touring the USA and Scandinavia. As a soloist, she has performed the Liebermann Flute Concerto and Mozart’s Concerto in G with orchestra.
Joanna’s portfolio of work also includes a demanding teaching schedule at the Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department, the Loughborough Endowed Schools, and Leicester Grammar school.
Musical Director: Anne Mee
Anne is Leicester born and bred and studied music from 6 years old, beginning with the piano, then adding cello and singing in choirs and productions in Leicester. Later, when at the Royal Academy of Music, she played and sang with various orchestras and choirs. She took up conducting as a third study while at the Academy.
After graduating, Anne joined LSMS teaching cello and double bass, and has occasionally conducted the Saturday morning string groups. She also ran a choir for nearly 3 years, and sang and played in a band. She plays with two people from that band still and they celebrate their 30th anniversary this year! She also leads the Bardi and the Knighton chamber orchestra cello sections.
By day Anne works as a cello, piano, violin and guitar teacher in various schools, as well as delivering sessions in spoken word and Art therapy in a couple of other institutions.
Musical Director: Graham Vick
Graham has been acting and singing professionally for over 20 years, appearing in West End productions such as Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Top Hat, and Mrs. Henderson Presents, and Romeo and Juliet and Helen at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
Comedy has been a common theme too including productions with the Reduced Shakespeare Company, several featured roles in comedy film trailers (including an internet promo for Ken Loach’s celebrated film I, Daniel Blake), mockumentaries, and TV ads for Le President cheese, Twix, and Molson beer to name a few.
