It has been an exciting 2019 for team Starling Arts! We’ve sung in all sorts of places and with hundreds of people! Here are a few of our highlights:

CHOIRS

Our three evening choirs have gone from strength to strength. We have welcomed lots of new members and have had a year of vocal experiences building up to Starling 10, our anniversary concert next April. At the start of the year we welcomed guest conductors and explored a range of musical styles in sessions with our choirs. This allowed us to develop new and existing skills to elevate the groups to new vocal heights! In the summer we performed across London and have since begun work on our concert repertoire. We’re really proud of the work our members continue to put into rehearsals and performances and can’t wait to show you what they’ve been up to at Starling 10 on April 4th 2020!

STARLINGS IN THEIR EYES

In March we returned to The Phoenix to host Starlings In Their Eyes with members of our choirs impersonating musical legends from Eminem to Kate Bush!

AWAY WEEKEND

Members of our choirs also travelled on our second Away Weekend, taking over a large house in the countryside near Hemel Hempstead. A weekend was spent singing, eating, partying and relaxing together, with a Starling band, ceilidh dancing, mindfulness and musical workshops all highlights! We’re planning a third visit next year - watch this space!

BLACK & TEAL BALL

We also had the chance to celebrate ten years of our choirs by throwing the epic Black and Teal Ball in November. Members past and present donned their glad rags and raised a glass to the choirs. There were speeches, a dance class and even a donut wall, and money was raised for both The Mental Health Foundation and the current Starling Arts outreach programmes.

ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING

We were also thrilled to receive a Grant for the Arts award by Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants for our community projects, which will see us continuing our singing for wellbeing work in hospitals and communities in the lead up to Starling 10.

INTERGENERATIONAL PROJECT

Our Arts Council Grant has afforded us the opportunity to devise an accessible, intergenerational singing project engaging dementia patients at Charing Cross Hospital and in a care home, alongside young people who don't usually participate in the arts.

THE VOICE INSIDE

The grant is also supporting the recording and release of our new single The Voice Inside. Written by Starling co-directors Emily Garsin and Anna Shields, the song is being produced by our long term collaborators at Auburn Jam Music and will be released along with a music video and mini documentary as part of Starling 10 in April 2020.

GARSIN & SHIELDS

Speaking of writing, as well as launching a new Garsin & Shields website, it’s been a great year for Emily & Anna’s musical theatre writing, with songs from their current show in progress being performed on the All That Scratch podcast at The Other Palace and at SIGNAL.

In the summer of 2019, Emily & Anna responded to a call-out from The Ceiling Project for women-led teams to write short new musical pieces around the theme of untold and inspirational stories about women. Inspired by the work of Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement, Garsin & Shields wrote Endings, documenting the legacy of Dame Cicely’s extraordinary work. In October it was announced that the piece had been commissioned as one of 5 musicals for The Ceiling Project’s first collection of pieces. It was performed at the Bishopsgate Institute in November and you can hear songs from Endings, and other Garsin & Shields shows, at Starling 10 on April 4th at Cadogan Hall!

PARTNERSHIPS

Beyond the writing and rehearsal room, we’ve enjoyed our continued work with Pentland Brands and Pollard Thomas Edwards architects. Singers from both workplaces will join us for Starling 10 at Cadogan Hall in April 2020.

Our singing workshops have seen us facilitating leadership development sessions, ice breakers and entertainment for large clients including the University of York and national charities.

We’ve enjoyed working for ATG Creative Learning, leading musical theatre workshops with school children at West End theatres, and have loved having more guest lecturing opportunities on the BA DATE and MA Applied Theatre course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

FUNDRAISING

Our choirs Cakes4Causes efforts never cease to amaze us, with thousands of pounds raised this year for the Tom Bowdidge Youth Cancer Foundation, Bracknell Healthspace, and Mental Health Foundation. More recently we’ve enjoyed carol singing and raising over £1200 for the British Heart Foundation and Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice.

WHAT A DECADE

The end of the decade also marks the end of Starling Arts’ first ten years in business. We’d like to thank everyone who has sung with us, supported us and cheered us over the past ten years. We very much hope you’ll join us for Starling 10 at Cadogan Hall on Saturday 4th April 2020 (tickets available here) and here’s to 2020 and all it holds in store!

Check out some photo highlights from the year below!