Dr János Klézli

Janos KlezliJános will be giving individual singing lessons at the Kodály Summer School 2015.

Dr János Klézli, Baritone, began his musical studies in his native town, Szekszárd. He studied violin, piano and voice. After completing his conservatory studies he was admitted to the Voice Department of the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest where his professors were József Simándi and Zsolt Bende. He graduated with honours in 1988.

In May 2003 the Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA) in performing arts was conferred upon him at the Liszt Academy of Music. Since September 1988 he has been teaching at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest; he also teaches voice training at the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music, Kecskemét. János gives concerts regularly and his repertoire includes works by Baroque, Classical, Romantic and contemporary composers. He has taken part in performances of several opera and oratorios, among other works by Purcell, Bach, Haydn, Buxtehude, Händel, Mozart, Schubert, Vivaldi, Liszt, Kodály and Arvo Pärt. He regularly gives master classes in Hungary and abroad.

Dr Susan Brumfield

Susan BrumfieldDr. Susan Brumfield is Professor of Music Education at Texas Tech University, and holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma. She is widely known throughout the United States and the United Kingdom as a clinician, consultant, author, composer, arranger and conductor of children’s choirs, and is an internationally recognized Kodaly educator. Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Dr. Brumfield is the Artistic Director and Conductor of The West Texas Children’s Chorus. Dr. Brumfield is a program author for the national series music texts, Silver Burdett Ginn Making Music, and a contributing author for the Hal Leonard magazine for classroom music teachers, John Jacobson’s Music Express. Dr. Brumfield’s choral music is available through Colla Voce Music and Hal Leonard Publications. She was invited by the International Kodaly Society to represent the United States with a new choral composition commissioned for the internationally released IKS publication Music: A Universal Language. Dr. Brumfield teaches in Kodaly certificate programs throughout the country. She serves as Academic Director of The West Texas Kodaly Initiative, and holds the same position in courses at Portland State University and Westminster Choir College.

Dr. Brumfield has conducted extensive field and archival research in England and Scotland, tracing the roots of American folk music in traditional British music. Her most recent publications, Hot Peas and Barley-O: Children’s Songs and Games from Scotland, and Over the Garden Wall: Children’s Songs and Games from England are available through Hal Leonard Publications. She is currently at work on Giro Giro Tondo, a new collections of children’s songs and games from Italy for use in the music classroom, and on a series of pedagogy materials for music teachers.

Dr James Cuskelly

James CuskellyJames is Head of Music at St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, Brisbane, President of the International Kodály Society, Director of the Summer School Music Program, and Director of the Cuskelly College of Music.

He completed undergraduate studies and a Diploma of Education at the University of Queensland. The Kodály Certificate from Holy Names College (California) was awarded in 1991 and the Master of Music Studies (The University of Queensland) in 1997. He gained the Doctor of Philosophy (The University of Queensland) in Music Education in 2007. He was Head of Music Education and the Aural Musicianship Program at the University of Queensland from 2000 – 2010, and during that time received two awards for Excellence in Teaching.

James has a very broad base in education, having taught in Kindergarten, pre-school, primary and secondary classrooms as well as in tertiary institutions.His passion for music, and his ability to enthuse and bring about effective learning in students across all ages or abilities, is internationally recognised. He is frequently asked as guest presenter and keynote speaker, and recently has taught at the Kodály Pedagogical Institute (Hungary), in the National Youth Choir of Scotland Summer Program and in the National KMEIA Conference.

James is committed to teacher training in music education, is considered a global leader in music education and directs internationally recognized programs. He runs a variety of accredited teacher training programs including the Summer School Music Program (Brisbane) and The Australian Kodály Certificate programs in Malaysia, Perth and New Zealand.A talented musician in his own right, James is also a highly regarded choral conductor and clinician. He is founding Director of the Queensland Kodály Choir and conductor of the women’s performing ensemble, Valency Ensemble. He is frequently asked to run choral workshops and lead choral festivals and workshops, and each year James convenes The Big Sing, a community choral festival held in Brisbane.

For an interview with James see: https://youtu.be/Zanw3WtM0Jg

Sally Leeming

Sally LeemingSally is a singer and musicianship teacher living in Bingley, West Yorkshire. For many years she was a class teacher and KS2 Maths Co-ordinator.

Whilst teaching in the middle school she set up a project, working with a group of children from the local special school, and their teacher – Judith Brindle. The project involved singing and playing musical games together and was Sally’s first ‘proper’ introduction to the Kodály Concept of Music Education.

One of the aims of the project was to encourage Sally to incorporate her singing skills into the classroom. After the birth of her son, Sally attended courses run by Judith and The Voices Foundation. After hearing about the wonderful summer school from circa 1990 onwards, Sally finally made it to Leicester in 2003 and has attended the majority of summer schools since then, becoming a BKA tutor in 2014.

For the last few years Sally has worked on projects, incorporating Kodály musicianship, for the Northern Orchestral Enterprise Ltd (NOEL) in Halifax and the Sing Up Outreach Project for Bradford Cathedral and, in 2017 Sally presented a series of workshops at the Bradford Music Education Conference.

Sally teaches privately as well as singing as a soloist and in a variety of choirs. Since 2011 she has taught Kodály Musicianship in a state primary school in Queensbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Zoe Greenhalgh

Zoe GreenhalghZoe is a Kodály trained Early Childhood Music Specialist with a wealth of experience of working in a wide range of Early Childhood settings. She also provides bespoke training workshops for early childhood education and music practitioners and is an Associate Tutor in Early Years and Primary Education at Edge Hill University. A former BKA Trustee, Zoe is an active musician playing the viola.

Her qualifications include MA Education, Early Years; PDC (Early Childhood Music, Kodaly); PGCE; BA(Hons); RGN.

Summer School Private Lessons

For Singers at the Summer School

Individual Singing Lessons are offered in rotation during the afternoons for those wishing to acquire or enhance their vocal skills through individual attention in half hour or hourly sessions with Allan Wright or Janos Klézli. Every attempt will be made to minimise the time missed from any one class. There is a supplement of £110 for four half hour lessons or £135 for five half hour lessons. The fifth lesson, if chosen, will be timetabled on the free afternoon. If choosing hour long lessons, applicants are asked to provide details of their experience as lessons of this length are not suitable for beginners. Four hour long lessons will require a supplement of £220 or £270 for five hour long lessons. NB: Timetabling singing lessons for Certificate course students will be very limited as these will have to be taken at a fixed time each day and not during class time. It will be possible to timetable 4 x 30 minute lessons for no more than two certificate students with Allan Wright and two certificate students with János Klézli.

Singers at the Summer School will also have an opportunity to develop personal musicianship skills in daily Musicianship with Relative Solfa classes. Opportunities for additional singing will be found in the Choral Music Workshop; the Level 3 and 4 Conducting classes and the Jewish Songs and Dance workshops. Rooms for individual practice will be available during the preparation time and in the evening.

Singers attending the summer school with an accompanist may also be interested in chamber music coaching with the gifted pedagogue, Orsolya Szabó. There is a supplement of £180 for three one hour sessions. The cost may be shared by the individuals in the group. A duo requesting coaching will need to provide information in advance of the repertoire to be studied and to bring multiple copies of the music to the course.

For Pianists at the Summer School

Individual Piano Lessons

Pianists seeking to improve their skills will have an opportunity to work individually in sessions lasting three-quarters of an hour with the gifted pedagogue, Orsolya Szabó. The individual lessons will be timetabled in rotation throughout the afternoon sessions with a possibility of some morning sessions. There is a supplement for individual tuition of £180.00 for four lessons, each lasting 45 minutes. Rooms for individual practice will be available during the preparation time and in the evening. NB timetabling piano lessons for Certificate students will be very limited as these will have to be taken at a fixed time each day and not during class time. It would be possible for one person on the Certificate course to have 4 x 45″ piano lessons.

Pianists may also be interested in chamber music coaching as part of a duo or trio. There is a supplement of £180 for three one hour sessions. The cost may be shared by the individuals in the group. Groups requesting coaching will need to provide information in advance of the repertoire to be studied and to bring multiple copies of the music to the course.

Chamber Music Coaching

For Vocal Duos, Piano Duos and or Instrumental Duos/Trios etc

Chamber Music Coaching sessions with Orsolya Szabó will be timetabled in rotation throughout the afternoon and will be available in a series of three one hour sessions. The cost of the coaching sessions may be shared between the participants. In these sessions complete harmony between the participants combined with a complete and deep understanding of the music will be the goal under the inspired direction of this gifted musician. According to the Kodály philosophy, starting from the whole, dismantling the elements, and building up the whole again will lead to a greater understanding of the music and a consequent enriching of the performance.

A chamber group may consist of two or more musicians in any combination, e.g singer and piano, instrument and piano, piano trio, string trio, wind duo etc. Each chamber group will be required to bring their own music stands and copies of the music that they will have chosen and prepared in advance of the course. Rooms for practice will be available during the preparation period and in the evening.

David Vinden

David_VindenDavid has been involved with music all his life, being a choirboy at Truro Cathedral, studying singing at the Royal Academy of Music with Joy Mammen and Pieter Van der Stolk as well as orchestral conducting with Maurice Miles. A choral scholarship from St. George’s Chapel Windsor enabled him to further his studies at Royal Holloway College. After teaching for some years he went to the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary, for two years. He studied Solfège, Methodology as well as choral conducting with Peter Erdei. Returning to England he took up a position at the Purcell School becoming its director of music in 1987. He conducted many orchestral and choral performances on the South Bank as well as all over Britain and abroad including the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. He has lectured at Trinity College of Music in orchestral and choral conducting, Birmingham Conservatoire and is currently a professor at the Guildhall School of Music. He and his Japanese wife, Yuko, founded the Kodály Centre of London in 1992 and they have produced over 30 publications for use in Kodály education. He is a member of the International Kodály Society and has given lectures and demonstrations all over the world including Westminster Choir College in the USA and Portland State University in Oregon. He works frequently with Géza and Csaba Szilvay of the Colourstrings Foundation and has also lectured frequently at the Kodály Institute and the Liszt Academy in Budapest. He is collaborating with Cyrilla Rowsell on the series of Primary school music curriculum books called ‘Jolly Music’ and is also co-authoring a book on ‘Harmony through Relative Solfa’ with Mónika Benedek. Recent editorial work includes a performing edition of Musica Transalpina 1 of 1588, The children’s songs collected by Cecil Sharp from Children and the complete canons of Cherubini. He has been conductor of the Eastcote Choral Society and the London Kodály Choir. He was awarded an honorary ARAM by the Royal Academy of Music for his services to music education and in 2007 was awarded the highly coveted ‘Kodály Institute’ award again for his services to music education and conducting work.

Allan Wright

Allan-WrightAllan was born in the North-East of England, in the county of Northumberland. His love for music (and especially the voice) started at the age of ten when he joined a local Choir and realised that singing was the most fun anyone could possibly have, ever (even more fun than cake). He went on to become deeply passionate about musical theatre and continued his musical studies alongside his academic work in Phonetics and Phonology (degree from Manchester Metropolitan University).

Allan moved to France in his late twenties (possibly because of the cakes) and, whilst teaching at university, began to bring together his love of phonetics and the singing voice. His study of the physiological and acoustic aspects of the singing voice led him to start coaching injured singers needing rehabilitation work and, in 2010, to set up the evidence-based technique programme ‘l’académie du chanteur moderne’ (the modern singer’s academy), which has gone on to become one of the most popular singing programs in France (and is now fully funded by the French government for working singers).

In 2011 he also began training other singing teachers to work with this physiological and acoustic approach to the voice. Allan regularly coaches in-house for musical theatre and opera companies as well as working on healthy and versatile voice techniques with choirs, and artists from various musical fields (classical, rock, heavy metal, soul, RnB, pop, country etc) and often speaks at conferences on vocal pedagogy and new approaches.

Despite trying for many years, he remains unable to play the guitar, but maintains that singing is the most fun anyone can have, ever.

Dr Árpád Tóth

Arpad-Toth

Árpád was born in Budapest, 1982. He graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest with

degrees in choral conducting, music education and as a teacher of solfége and music theory. He currently leads several choirs in Hungary and has worked for more than 12 years with the Hungarian minority of Slovakia as a choral conductor and music educator.

He currently teaches conducting and choir building at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemt. Since 2013 he has also been teaching musical analysis and music theory at the University of Szeged. He has been on the staff of the University Training Secondary School of the Hungarian University of Arts since 2006 where he is the founder and master of the school choir and where he teaches music education, the history of culture and supervises the student self-government.

Árpád has a special interest in contemporary music and has conducted more than 30 premieres. He is the art director of special modern singing events, such as the Budapest Night of Choirs and ‘Hajnalok Völgye’, the first Slovakian contemporary choir festival. Over the years he has built up a special choir improvisation technique with his choirs and he will be sharing these ideas in his evening workshop.

Dr Orsolya Szabó

Dr. Orsolya Szabó is a concert pianist, professor at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest and at the Kodály Institute, Kecskemét, teaching piano, chamber music, piano pedagogy and her own creative music pedagogical method, the “SZO-System”.

Dr. Orsolya Szabó received her diploma in 1972 and her DLA in 2010 at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest. Since that time, her teaching vocation and performing have been parallel and inseparable from each other. She has taught at the conservatoires in Budapest and Szeged, and also at the Szeged Teacher’ Training College. Since 1983 she has worked at the Kodály Institute, Kecskemét and, from 2010, has also been teaching at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest.

She gives concerts all over the world: in Italy, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Great Britain, Belgium, Singapore, China, and South Korea. She has held Master Classes on several summer courses in Hungary as well as in other countries and is often asked to adjudicate at international piano competitions. She was one of the leaders of the International Jeunesses Musicales Federation and worked on Lord Menuhin’s “MUS-E” Project.

Her involvement in arts besides music is also significant. She was national champion in Rhythmical Sport Gymnastics eight times. Her experience and knowledge in this field led her to create a special movement system, the SZO-System, for musicians, which she has been teaching in Hungary and abroad since 1990.

In 1982 she received her MA diploma in Aesthetics and Philosophy, Budapest and four books of her poetry were published in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996. Her activity in Fine Arts is also important. She has had several “one-woman” exhibitions of her paintings, graphics, and statues in Hungary, Stuttgart, London and Paris, etc. She was awarded the prize for “Excellent Piano Interpretation of New Hungarian Works” (Artistjus) in 1972; in 1987 she received the “For the Hungarian Culture” Prize and, in 1995, the prize for “Excellent Music Teaching Career”.

Her students are very successful both in the field of performing (including winners of several international music competitions) and as piano teachers.