Coming soon... Anthology

We've got three weeks to go 'til our next concert and everyone is super excited at Starling HQ!

Check out this video trailer for a taste of the fun we've been having in rehearsals and buy your tickets from this What's On page of this site.

Singing Together - Theatre, Music, Action

Starling Arts’ Co-director Emily Cook reflects on a weekend running singing workshops in Toulouse, France.  

My absolute favourite thing about running Starling Arts has to be the fusion of singing and community, which is rooted in the soul of every note we sing. When Anna and I thought up our first motto back in 2010 - Unite, Create, Soar - weekends like this one just passed were exactly what we had in mind. Getting people together, creating something special using music, and flying high as a result. To my mind there are very few things that unify and bond people as quickly as singing - proof of which has to be the university production of the musical Follies in which I met my now fiancé! 

This Saturday morning we woke up in Toulouse in Southern France, ready to run a weekend of singing workshops with over 40 people, across a range of ages, levels of experience and first languages! We were working with a community association very much akin to our own ethos at Starling Arts; TMA (Theatre, Music, Action) also uses the arts to bring people together, providing arts opportunities in English for anyone in the local community, with regular music and theatre activities taking place during the year. The 'action' part of their title, to me, really enforces the idea that something special happens when people get together through the arts.  

We were really excited to have been asked to run a special weekend-long 'show choir' workshop for TMA, extending the work we already do with our three London-based choirs, as well as our youth, community, education and corporate singing projects. As we boarded a flight from London Gatwick, Anna and I took stock of how lucky we have been to pursue a career we love so much, and for our work to have taken us international, meeting like-minded people and sharing our passion for music and theatre, now, across the channel too!  

We had hoped to get the group, many of whom had not met before, to feel at home together, before exploring vocal, physical and performance techniques. Our chosen repertoire included songs from Rent, the charts and a favourite Elvis-era mash-up arrangement, complete with dance moves! We were excited to see that the group were so passionate about singing, so thirsty to learn new skills, improve their harmony singing and try out some new dance moves too. 

The fantastic workshop participants show off their jazz hands

The results were electric, with many of the group finding themselves surprised by their achievements: “I never thought anyone would get me dancing!”, ‘I didn’t think I could sing in harmony”, “I’ve always been too shy to sing in public!”... 

Of course we were very proud but not at all surprised by what the group achieved in such a short amount of time - it’s incredible what an investment in the concept of ‘community’ (and a bit of fun) can do. Before we could catch our breath, we were back on a plane to London, that motto Unite, Create, Soar more pertinent than ever as we looked down over France, soaring though the sky, still humming the tunes and tapping our toes.

- Emily

If you would like Starling Arts to work with your community group, business, school or choir, contact Anna and Emily at info@starlingarts.com

The Final Countdown: Abracadabra

Last week, the Starling Arts community had an epic week of singing and dance rehearsals, concluding with our first full run of Abracadabra by our wonderful band, made up of bass guitar, drums and two keyboards. Find out how the magic is taking shape in this week's blog post. 

CHOIR REHEARSALS

Performance rehearsals continue with members of all three Starling Arts choirs, Corvida, Forte and the Starling Singers. The show pieces are coming together really well, and the choirs enjoyed watching snippets of each others' songs at our final combined rehearsal on Thursday evening.

BAND CALL 

On Friday came one of our favourite parts of the final preparations for our productions: band call, the first day our musicians get together to rehearse the music for a show. Having rehearsed with our singers for some months using only a piano or keyboard in a small hall, the introduction of the band is like the icing on the musical cake, bringing everything together. The instrumentation adds texture and personality to the songs, bringing them to life. 

Using 'patches' from a computer plugged into our 2nd keyboard, we can achieve an array of high quality sounds played through the keys. We have a strings section, electric guitar, 80s synth bass and a brass section at the flick of a switch! 

We think our Abracadabra band are rather special. The incredible musician Jen Green has worked with Starling Arts since our very first session back in January 2010, and Abracadabra marks her 7th show with us, incredibly!  The talented Dave Holden returns for a third time to play bass with us and we’re thrilled to welcome Sam Cooper to our line-up for the first time on drums! Starling Arts' co-director Anna Shields leads the band, and can be seen here on Keyboard 1. 

We can't wait to perform Abracadabra on 6th and 7th July 2013 at the John McIntosh Theatre, London, and hope you can join us! Tickets are available from our What's On page.

Coming soon... Abracadabra

Starling Arts' next show Abracadabra hits the stage at the John McIntosh Theatre in less than four weeks! This post is an excuse to tell you all about it and to use as many magic puns as possible...

I'm willing to bet that everyone reading this is familiar with the word 'Abracadabra'. A magical incantation used in magic tricks, conjuring images of rabbits pulled from hats and magic wands, the word is so closely associated with wonder that it seemed an obvious choice to provide the title to our evening of musical performance artistry on stage!

The etymology of the word 'Abracadabra' suggests it comes from the Hebrew meaning "I create (A'bra) what (ca) I speak (dab'ra)." This struck a chord with us: through song we create different worlds on stage.

It's been a year since our last show, having recorded our debut album Taking Flight at the end of last year, and we've lots to show! Plenty of new voices have since joined us, bringing some incredible talent to the already spell-binding Starling line up. We've more variety than ever, with rock, pop and show tunes from a range of acts like Rihanna to The Lumineers, plus songs from the musical Matilda and show-tune classics like 'One' from A Chorus Line, featuring some of our most ambitious dancing yet. This show is a bit like a tin of Roses - there is something for everyone!

All of our adult singers have been rehearsing with us for just 2 hours a week over the last few months, but with plenty of extra work going on outside of sessions, the singers have poured their hearts into making this show something they can be proud of, practicing dance moves in their kitchens, harmonies in the shower and even sewing costumes on their Sunday afternoons!

Singing in a choir, particularly one with such an emphasis on performance, is hard work. Just when you think you've nailed a vocal harmony, a tricky dance step jumps in to confuse you, plus you sometimes have up to 60 other voices to blend with - but when it comes together, magic happens and we’re very proud of all our singers’ hard work!

Of course, the whole show will be spell-binging, but here are our top tips:

Our Abracadabra Highlights:

• An epic medley of Meatloaf's hits arranged specially for the Starling Singers 

• A Mary Poppins trilogy, with one number performed by each choir, with some of the catchiest tunes and trickiest dance routines yet!

• Songs made famous by Elvis and the 'Rock 'n' Roll' era mashed up in a toe-tapping performance from Forte 

• A punk-rock departure for our close-harmony Corvida ladies and a song made famous by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers...

We hope our singers will put a spell on you - just come on down and visit us on July 6 & 7th at the John McIntosh Theatre and see...

- Emily

Summersault

Last weekend, the members of our choirs donned their teal ties, jewellery and accessories. Teamed with black outfits, for two hours on Saturday and Sunday night, the stage of Toynbee Studios looked like a season finale of Glee. Unlike Glee, however, at Starling Arts our shows are, thankfully, without as much drama. No childbirth, declarations of love, corrupt PE teachers or celebrity judges appeared to upset the balance of our latest concert, Summersault. Not as far as we're aware, that is.

Without doubt, Glee brought the term 'show choir' over to the UK, and rather fortuitously launched on our screens at the same time as Starling Arts was born. Yet in the last two years, we've developed our own choral identity away from that brand, and with it a team of loyal musicians, technicians, singers and audience members who always come back for more, ready to support us. 

Over the last couple of years, we have produced several concerts with our choirs. From humble beginnings in a draughty church hall with an old piano, it's wonderful to now be able to fill the stage and auditorium of a venue like Toynbee with a band of talented musicians accompanying our wonderful singers, and a backstage and technical team giving it a slick, professional finish.

So, we thought we'd open up this week’s blog to those people, to see what Starling Arts and Summersault means to them.

Shalini - a choir member’s perspective

I've been a part of Forte since the choir was first formed, and I am continually amazed at how making music has brought people together and genuinely enriched all of our lives. Many of us joined the choir on the basis that we sort of liked singing in the shower and wanted to meet a few more people in London, but I don't think any of us realised how much fun we'd have, or the sense of achievement gained from performing in several successful shows, each one better than the last, and having the opportunity to develop and learn in a field completely different to our everyday working lives.  

Performing in Summersault in particular has been a highlight as the theatre was bigger than we've ever performed in, and I sang my first significant solo - I would never have had the confidence to do this a year or so ago, but with the encouragement and support of everyone in the choir, what had once seemed a terrifying experience became an exciting opportunity. It's hard work - we're all busy with our full time jobs so we have to squeeze singing in where we can, but it pays off when we're able to come together to put on such a great performance, have a lot of fun doing it and and hearing how much the audience enjoyed it. I can't wait until the next one!

Peter - the Sound Technician’s view

This was my third Starling show as sound tech, and from my point of view (how does it sound...) the best. At the previous two shows at the LOST theatre we had to have the band close to the choir which meant that the choir mics picked up the band too, and limited my ability to get an optimum balance. At Toynbee the band were a comfortable distance from the choir (but still visible to the audience), and I had no problem keeping the vocals heard above the band - and thanks to the CCTV monitor in the second row of the audience the singers could still see Anna conducting from the piano.

I am always overwhelmed by the talent of the performers and how nice they are, even forgiving us sound and light techies when we get something wrong. Constantly ‘riding the faders’ to optimise the sound balance I can’t keep my eyes fully on the choreography, but I am listening intently at all times, probably more intently than the audience who are feasting their eyes as well as their ears. The most moving number for me was “Children Will Listen”. And I had to restrain myself from singing along with “God Only Knows”...  

What the audience thought...

It is very difficult to give a reasoned, unbiased and dispassionate response to Summersault because love and pride gets in the way!

From its very beginning, the Starling choirs have always given polished performances, with the added 'verve' that the songs haven't just been sung, but actually performed too. This has improved concert by concert and Summersault proved that the choirs are now reaching newer heights in entertainment and ability.

One member of the audience said to me "...it was great fun" - the evident fact that everyone was having such fun increased the audience's enjoyment too.

Another (new to Starling) emailed me to say "I was REALLY impressed with the evening - great entertainment; well polished and enjoyable choreography to enhance the songs."

So keep on bringing the musical theatre classics - and new songs - to your audience, Starling, and we'll lap it up!

Cat - the Stage Manager

Having seen other Starling Arts shows, I was very excited to be involved in this concert as the Stage Manager. My main role was to make sure that all performers were in the correct place at the correct time to ensure that the show ran smoothly, and with over forty of them backstage and a maze of routes from one wing to the other, it can be a tough job! 

I had an amazing weekend working with all three of the choirs. The passion of the singers and of Anna and Emily at the helm is very inspiring to watch, and I felt proud to be involved with such a supportive company. It's a privilege to be part of the team.

Helena - another of our singers’ thoughts

After a few weeks of frantically concentrating on dance moves and tweaking harmonies, the day of the show always begins with a mix of trepidation and excitement. Concentrating on those kick lines and nailing the entrances and exits takes up the morning, but when showtime arrives it's time to let your hair down, get on with the performance and... enjoy 

It's such a wonderful privilege to be able to perform. To do it with such a fantastic bunch of like-minded people, making fabulous memories together, is an opportunity not to be missed. I loved every minute of performing in Summersault - thank you Starling Arts!

Our choirs are now taking a well-deserved for the summer while we head down to Devon to facilitate our Summer School production of Beauty & the Beast, but they'll all be back in September, with a rather exciting announcement ahead of Christmas, so watch this space...

Anna & Emily