News & Events

CME 2023

Prof. David L. Brunner USA Mandy MillerUK Aga Serugo Lugo UK We are thrilled to have finalised our faculty for CME 2023, plus a contribution from Musicians Without Borders. Our Choral Music Teacher Education Course in East London is set for the weekend of 17th – 19th February 2023. This is the last weekend of half term. Having consulted with teachers we hope that it will be easier for our regular participants to attend and for new delegates to discover the wonders of CME, London. Click here to register.  Course Includes Course Dates 2023 Cost £480 Standard inclusive fee Fri 17th – Sun 19th Feb (Incl. Thurs for ATs)Early …

Sing Lambeth Finale

The Living Song team of artists, young artists and trainers have all expressed their joy at being part of the programme and final singing event for SING LAMBETH at the end of July. In spite of all the challenges of heat waves, rail strikes and Covid, Lambeth Academy and the London Nautical School still managed to attend the day at Southbank Centre. Other participating schools in the programme had been able to enjoy school-based workshops and singing resources for their students throughout the year and we look forward to seeing them for phase two 2022-23. Accompanied by young musicians …

GENFest 2022

Living Song was asked to run two singing workshops for the Kent Youth Takeover Festival this year as part of GENFest. Our associate artist Moh from Newham and Young Artist Richie delivered two dynamic workshops for a diverse group of children and young people.   The festival took place ‘live’ at Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Kent with some online activity presented on the ART31KENT YouTube channel. The event was about celebrating young people’s creativity and giving a platform to young creative voices in Kent. Congratulations to the Guilbenkian Arts Centre for a highly successful event and for their vision. Thank you …

Fair Energy Futures

Members of Living Song’s Youth Advisory Board took part in the Fair Energy Futures Symposium last month in Queen Elizabeth Park, Newham. The local Young Artists came together to write a new song focused on their concerns, hopes and actions towards fairer energy for all. Harine, Lucian and Brendon then performed their song ‘live’ at the afternoon Community Fair for delegates. They were also invited to take part in a radio podcast Q & A as part of the event, sharing their stories about discussions and song writing collaborations around relevant topics in their lives. The symposium also welcomed …

Sing Lambeth

We are proud that our Associate Artist Byron Gold is inspiring students across Lambeth Schools with his new song ‘Greatness’ , arranged especially for the Sing Lambeth Project, led by Lambeth Music Service in partnership with Pegasus Opera, Southbank Centre and Living Song. Byron has been running singing workshops teaching this song following a teacher training to introduce this and other pieces to secondary schools across Lambeth. As always we are delighted to be working with one of our developing young artists, Harine, who is co-leading workshops and attending all the Sing Lambeth teacher trainings. We are excited for the next phase where teachers will work with Associate …

Music for Youth

www.mfy.org.uk The Regional Events are back in person this year and it’s wonderful to see and hear so many young people expressing themselves through their music. Choirs, jazz bands, brass bands, rock and pop band and all manor of choirs presenting diverse and musical programmes, ‘live’ and in person. Wonderful! 

Holiday Activity and Food Programme

Living Song is glad to continue contributing creative singing workshops for Newham’s Holiday Activity and Food programme across the borough. This enables children aged 5 – 18 who would normally benefit from free school meals to receive a good meal in the day while enjoying fun activities. Our local Associate Artists are engaging up to 60 children at a time in warm ups, creative play and singing known and loved songs. We know that singing led skilfully has the power to heal trauma, build confidence and connection and create a space have fun!  Next stop Royal Docks Learning and Activity Centre.

Thank Goodness For Music!

As we approach the end of 2021, our main message is one of gratitude to all the people we work with and for our supporters and friends. In this, the end of our 10th Anniversary year, we have received so many kind and enthusiastic messages from artists, young people and partners about how much Living Song means to them. While we can’t deny the challenges of the pandemic, we have many achievements to celebrate and future plans to look forward to. As we say goodbye to Stratford Circus, our long standing partner, their encouragement to reach out to other strong …

Living Song and Covid 19

We are proud to have kept our offer up throughout the pandemic, offering on-line sessions via Zoom and one-to-one mentoring. Some of this came through our Arts Council funded programme Artist Approach and some directly from our leadership team to individual young people in distress. It was a challenge for all our artists and young people to remain positive and hopeful and, like so many other artists, musicians, singing leaders and arts practitioners we are very delighted to be back in a space with people however cautious we still need to be, making music, re-connecting, visioning and generally coming …