Susan Hollingworth

Susan Hollingworth

Repertoire for Children’s and Youth choirs is Sue’s afternoon workshop at the Kodály Summer School 2017. Sue will lead a practical session, singing repertoire suitable for children and youth choirs of all abilities, trying various performance ideas and discussing levels of difficulty.

Sue is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied voice, Sue divides her time between her work as a Choral Director and Music Educator. In 1990 she was awarded a Churchill fellowship for her work with choirs. In 2010, she was awarded “Choir Master of the Year” by the Gramophone Magazine. This is a community music award, given to those who have made the greatest impact in their singing communities.

She is Creative Director of the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir. This open access choir won the overall title of BBC3 Choir of the Year in 2008. The choir was been awarded an IMove Grant by the Arts Council to stage a community opera for 1500 people as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012. This was called Cycle Song and received rave reviews. The choir took part in the BBC Proms in September 2009 singing Messiah. In 2000 they travelled to Sydney to take part in the Olympic Torch Processions; they sang at the opening night celebrations of the Millennium Dome and at the first Holocaust Memorial Service at Westminster. The Choir was chosen to make a BBC programme called “Take a Bow” and was the subject of a documentary on Radio 4.

Sue is Musical Director of the Sine Nomine International Touring Choir. All members of this choir are themselves choral directors. The choir has been the guest choir at Presteigne Festival, performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester and international festivals in Italy and Edinburgh.

In 2010, BBC Radio 3 invited Sue to lead performances of the Hallelujah Chorus in Glasgow and London with participants who are new to singing and who were encouraged to join a choir. For the BBC, she also conducted an afternoon Family Prom at the Albert Hall. She has worked for the National Youth Choirs of Scotland and Great Britain and is a guest conductor for Leeds Lieder.

Sue’s Music Education work has included creating Melody Monkey’s Marvellous Music Box with Cathy Dew, being an Advocate for Sing Up, working for the Voices Foundation and giving regular workshops for Making Music, 20,000 Voices and Sing for Pleasure. She has adjudicated for BBC3 Choir of the Year and for the Coleraine, Elgin and Don Valley festivals.