Our Team
Starling Arts is run by Anna Shields and Emily Garsin.
We are a small team of two working with freelance creatives and facilitators to produce exceptional projects and events that showcase the transformative power of group singing.
We understand, first-hand, the extraordinary power of singing together and believe we can all sing our way to happier, healthier and more connected communities.
Anna Shields
Co-Founder and Director
Anna has been singing and performing for as long as she can remember.
Growing up in Devon with an upbringing not unlike that of a Von Trapp, she learned much of her craft singing as a church chorister and by performing with various school, community and amateur ensembles before following her passion for the arts to the University of Winchester.
Graduating with a first class degree in Drama, Theatre & TV Studies in 2006, the course developed her enthusiasm for applied theatre and community arts, while membership of some of Hampshire's finest operatic and musical societies developed her passion for singing.
In 2008 she began studying for a Master's Degree in Theatre Studies (Theatre in London) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 2009. Anna is now a visiting lecturer at both Winchester and Central.
Since co-founding Starling Arts in 2010, Anna has created and facilitated numerous community singing projects in a range of settings, sharing her passion for how singing can change lives at every turn. In November 2015 she & Emily explored this topic in their TEDx talk Why the World Needs to Sing.
Anna’s vocal arrangements for choirs have been performed internationally and make up much of Starling Arts' catalogue. Some are available for purchase via Sheet Music Plus.
She musically directs all Starling Arts’ concerts and projects.
Anna is a British Lung Foundation / The Musical Breath trained Singing for Lung Health Practitioner, a Vocal Health First Aider, and a trained Sing to Beat Parkinson’s leader.
In addition to waving her hands around conducting or playing the piano, Anna can often be found writing musicals with Emily (visit Garsin & Shields), training for a marathon, or walking around London - preferably with a chocolate croissant and cup of tea in hand - admiring the capital's skyline when viewed from its many bridges. She wears a lot of stripes.
Emily Garsin
Co-Founder and Director
Emily grew up in West Sussex, where her love of community music and theatre began as a founding member of Shine Theatre Group, an inclusive theatre company based near her home town of Brighton. Highlights include performing a charity single on GMTV and singing with Katherine Jenkins. Emily was a member of Starlite Theatre Company and performed as a soloist with the Sussex Symphony Orchestra and for the BBC at Chichester Cathedral.
Graduating from the University of Cambridge in 2008, Emily gained a first-class degree reading English, Drama and Education. She was awarded the Bundy Scholarship and Education Prize.
Emily went on to study for a Master’s Degree in Applied Theatre (Drama in the Community and Drama Education) at London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, gaining a distinction.
She created and delivered arts education projects in diverse and challenging contexts with Old Vic New Voices and produced numerous learning, participation and training projects at English National Opera - including running the ENO Opera Works training scheme and ENO Opera Squad programmes
Emily co-founded Starling Arts in 2010. Since then she has led a vast range of singing projects in diverse community settings, with her passion for group singing documented in her 2015 TEDx talk with Anna on Why the World Needs to Sing.
Emily is a British Lung Foundation / The Musical Breath trained Singing for Lung Health Practitioner, trained Sing to Beat Parkinson’s leader, Vocal Health First Aider, and a qualified Mindfulness Meditation leader.
Alongside the thrill of getting groups singing, Emily enjoys writing musicals with Anna as Garsin and Shields, as well as dairy-free cooking, long seaside walks, trying new dance styles and admiring big cats.
