Classical Singing Workshop with Tim

Tim Armstrong-Taylor has sung with the Monteverdi Choir, performed opera across Europe, stood on stage at the National Theatre alongside Dame Judi Dench, written three chamber operas, published a novel, and does a comedy double act with his identical twin brother. He is, in other words, quite a lot and irritatingly clever… and talented. I’m not warming to him :)

He also happens to be an exceptionally good teacher, which, given everything else, is deeply annoying. He’s the sort of person who makes you sound better without you quite understanding how it happened. I’m really not liking him. In fact, don’t come!

But, I guess, if you’re a singer with some experience and fancy a proper musical evening with someone who actually knows what he’s doing, this is it. Not an audition, not a masterclass in the intimidating sense, just real repertoire and, I would reluctantly admit, very good company.

What to expect

• A warm-up that actually teaches you something
• Practical work on breath, tone and blend – things you’ll take back to your own choir
• Beautiful choral repertoire, carefully chosen and clearly taught
• That moment where the room locks in and you think, ‘Oh. We sound rather good.’

Who it’s for

Singers with some choral experience who fancy a proper musical workout in a warm, low-ego room. If you’ve ever left choir practice thinking ‘I wish we’d gone deeper into that’, this is your evening.

Tim Armstrong-Taylor is a conductor, singer, composer, novelist and – his words – lover of lists. He started singing as a boy in his local church choir (as they all do), then went on to train in singing and opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (as they don’t all do).

From there, things escalated. He was a finalist for the Guildhall’s prestigious Gold Medal – the same prize previously won by Jacqueline du Pré and Bryn Terfel – then went on to tour the world with the Monteverdi and Schütz Choirs, sang opera and oratorio across Europe, worked as a session singer on British and American film soundtracks, and spent a year as a company member at the Royal National Theatre performing Sondheim’s A Little Night Music alongside Dame Judi Dench. He has also, by his own cheerful admission, sung at rich people’s parties from the Cayman Islands to St Petersburg.

These days, Tim directs five choirs – from a church choir to a thriving community choir to a brand new men’s daytime choir – and has become deeply passionate about the wellbeing side of singing: what it does for people, how it brings them together, and why it matters. He recently set up Sing with Tim with a mission to spread joy through singing, which sounds like a greeting card but is, in his case, genuinely meant.

He’s also written three chamber operas, published a novel (An Urn for the Worse, which hit number one on Amazon, thank you very much), and performs a musical comedy double act with his identical twin brother, Victor and Albert. They’ve been described as “Bill Bailey meets Flanders and Swann” and “a Morecambe and Wise for the 21st century”, and have toured over fifty village halls in the last couple of years, which is either very impressive or very niche, depending on your outlook.

In short: Tim is proper. Properly trained, properly experienced, properly funny, and properly good at making a room full of singers sound better than they thought they could. He’s also been a friend of mine for over thirty-five years, which means I can say with some authority: he’s a lovely chap.