Presenter Profile
Eleanor Clarke
Eleanor Clarke was a founder member of vocal ensemble Stile Antico and sang with the Tower of London Chapel Choir for 14 years. She now works primarily as a singing teacher, and recently completed a Masters in Voice Pedagogy with The Voice Study Centre.
Choral Singing: A Profession for the Privately Educated and Well Connected?
Most people working within the choral field have an awareness that state-educated singers are in the minority, in stark contrast with the 93% of the population they represent. But how big a problem is this, what are the challenges that singers from atypical backgrounds face, and what is the church’s role in all of this? These are the questions I set out to answer in my research project: a survey of the educational backgrounds of professional choral singers, followed by interviews with those from atypical backgrounds. The results show how acutely we need both choral outreach and a cultural shift to encourage rather than humiliate those who discover cathedral music later in life.