Category: Presenter Biography

When, like Lucy Hollins and Suzzie Vango, you’ve conducted choirs in Trafalgar Square, in a sewage treatment works, in a Ugandan prison, in the slums of Mumbai, in a bus shelter on the Isle of Barra, among the sights and smells of Billingsgate Fish Market… you really do learn how to make them sound awesome.

Having met as wind-playing teenagers, Lucy and Suzzie both studied at Birmingham Conservatoire, and met again years later working for the wonderful vocal charity Music of Life. United in their love of a good brunch menu, puns and strong red lippy, they believe music can transform lives, empower individuals and build communities.

Lucy and Suzzie are evangelical about the power of proper warm-ups and the magic they can work on the sound of any choir. And they really know what they’re talking (or singing) about. At home and abroad, their experience spans leading vocal and choral projects with the London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and they’ve performed at all of the UK’s most prestigious concert halls, as well as in Paris, Hong Kong and New York.

Years (well, decades) spent vocal coaching, conducting and leading choirs has given both Lucy and Suzzie an unrivalled command of other people’s vocal folds; the list is long (you’ll need to take a good breath), and includes the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, National Children’s Choir of Great Britain, Association of British Choral Directors, Sing for Pleasure, Ex Cathedra Education, BBC, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Royal School of Church Music, London Symphony Chorus, Orchestra of the Swan, Choir of the Year and ChoirFest Middle East.

There’s generally some hilarity involved – Suzzie couldn’t resist the urge to high-five Desmond Tutu after they sang together, while Lucy has regularly entertained the masses in her pyjamas and dressed as a Christmas tree (not at the same time).

Beyond making choirs sound awesome, Lucy loves cheese, Harris Tweed, and Connect Four. Suzzie loves football, scotch eggs and her Welsh Hound, Wally.

‘How to Make Your Choir Sound Awesome’ is published by Banks Music

Toby Young is an award-winning composer and producer who creates innovative and genre-defying contemporary music. His work is rooted in the theatricality of opera, the energy of electronic dance music and the emotion of film scores, and has been played around the world at venues ranging from the Royal Albert Hall to Glastonbury Festival.

Toby’s concert music has been commissioned by ensembles and orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, and Rambert Dance Company. He has also co-written several chart-topping hits with drum and bass artists Chase & Status, and collaborated with artists such as the Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, Florence Welch, Kano, Snow Ghosts, MOKO, and Jacob Banks.

Toby is the Music Supervisor of Punchdrunk, one of the world’s foremost immersive and site-specific theatre companies, for whom he has written soundtracks to a variety of TV and stage works including BAFTA-nominated productions for HBO and Sky Arts. As a producer he has created recordings for some of the country’s leading artists including Danielle de Niese, Stephen Hough, Nicola Benedetti, and Jess Gillam.

A deeply committed educator, Toby is Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and holds a doctorate in music and philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is a passionate advocate for social justice in the arts, and frequently works with marginalised communities to support and empower them through music.

https://www.theothertoby.com/

John was born in London and studied music at Clare College, Cambridge. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years; much of his early work consisted of church music and other choral pieces including Christmas carols. From 1975–79 he was Director of Music at his alma mater, Clare College, and directed the college chapel choir in various recordings and broadcasts. Since 1979 he has divided his time between composition and conducting. Today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions are performed around the world. His music has featured in a number of British royal occasions, including the two most recent royal weddings. He edits the Oxford Choral Classics series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs. In 1983 he formed his own choir the Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings, and he appears regularly in several countries as guest conductor and choral ambassador. He holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music.

johnrutter.com