Meet your ensemble leader – Helen Brookes
Helen Brookes, born in Stroud, Gloucester, gained a first class honours degree in Performing Arts (Music, Dance and Drama) before studying postgraduate singing at the Royal College of Music.
A versatile mezzo soprano, experienced in singing a wide range of styles, she has performed opera and oratorio as a soloist and ensemble member with English Touring Opera, Almeida Opera, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and English Concert as well as rock and pop vocals for Florence and the Machine, Sting, Take That, and symphonic heavy metal group Nightwish.
She sings with many of the leading vocal ensembles (Tenebrae, Dunedin Consort, Gabrieli Consort, Eric Whitacre Singers, BBC Singers) and has performed on numerous film soundtracks including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Interstellar and the Kung Fu Pandas.
She is especially passionate about music in education and as a music specialist teacher and firm believer that everyone can (and should!) sing, leads workshops, projects and training for children and adults to do just that.
She is a musicianship tutor for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and is immensely proud to be Music Director of the Royal Greenwich and Blackheath Halls Youth Choir as well as the recently formed ‘FESI Choir’ – a Folkestone based group providing opportunities for enthusiastic young singers from eight local primary schools to join together, have fun (biscuits and silly voice warmups feature heavily!), and perform to a wider audience.