SongRoutes – France

DATES - June 4-11, 2023

VENUE - Académie La Roche d'Hys

LEADERS - Sophie Michaux, Jennifer Scott, Rene Worst, Jeannette Aster and Karla Mundy

COST - $2175 CAD + $50 Registration Fee + GST

**REGISTRATION WILL OPEN SEPT 15th 2022 - The Registration Links will start working on that day!

Join us for an exciting one week vocal intensive in Burgundy, France! This trip will be a combination of solo singing masterclasses, classes in jazz/swing & ballads/chansons, movement for vocalists, vocal technique and ensemble singing. Everyone will have chances to perform and record our final performance.

During our week we will eat our meals and stay together at the beautiful Academie Roche D'Hys situated in the heart of the Auxois region of Burgundy, France about 50 km north east of DIJON. L’Académie de la Roche d’Hys "was founded in 2002 and has been developed by Canadians Jeannette and Howard Aster as an international centre for the exploration and development of artistic and cultural projects which stimulate creative thinking and offer a forum for the exchange of ideas."

"Nestled between a dramatic rock escarpment and a magnificent valley of rolling hills and pastures, surrounded only by forests and the occasional wild- life, La Roche D’Hys~Domaine des Arts is an ideal place to leave the rest of the world behind and concentrate fully on the work at hand."

We will use our time at this beautiful artistic centre to dig deep into our singing process. We will slow down and explore learning and performing in a mindful and supportive way. Outside of classes, we will leave time for walks, practice & free time and a winery too!

We have room for 16 singers and accommodations are a combination of triple, double and single rooms. Howard Aster will be preparing 3 meals a day for the group! We will be eating all of our meals at the Academie and all are expected to chip in and help with the serving and tidying up.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Cost will include full tuition, accommodations, transportation while at Roche d'Hys and all meals! Registration will open on Sept 15th 2022. There are some limited single rooms available for an extra cost of $200.

INSTRUCTORS

SOPHIE MICHAUX was born in London, raised in the French Alps, and now based in Western Massachusetts (USA). Her versatility and musical curiosity have brought her to be an active performer in an eclectic span of repertoire, and she is at home with grand opera, French cabaret songs, English Sea Shanties, as well as a variety of world polyphonies. She tours around the US and Europe with Culomba, her world polyphony sextet, and Sophie et Adam, a folk music duet with guitarist and singer Adam Simon.

Sophie’s recent engagements include collaborations withthe Boston Early Music Festival, Blue Heron, the Lorelei Ensemble, Bach Collegium San Diego, Palaver Strings, Ruckus as well asa solo recital of Barbara Strozzi’s music at the Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy. This season, she will premiere Her Story by Julia Wolfe with the Boston, Chicago, Nashville, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, with the Lorelei Ensemble.

JENNIFER SCOTT

Jennifer Scott is a singer and pianist born in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She specializes in jazz, blues, and world music. She is considered one of the more important jazz artists working in Canada and the United States today.

As well as being a performer, she arranges and writes jazz and pop tunes, with several CDs containing a combination of original tunes, tunes she has arranged, and more traditional tunes. She has also appeared on many CBC recordings and has worked with many other musicians both live and in studio.

To read more about Jennifer go to - http://www.jenniferscott.ca

RENE WORST

Having worked with a diverse group of musicians such as Chet Baker, David Bowie, Freddie Hubbard and Aerosmith, Rene Worst is a virtuoso on both electric and acoustic basses.

As a producer and session artist, he has worked with Juno award nominated Skywalk (a band he co-founded), Mythos and jazz singer JenniferScott.

Rene is an in demand workshop facilitator, teaching worldwide.

JEANNETTE ASTER , Opera Stage Director and Artistic Director of l’Academie de la Roche D’Hys ,was born in Linz Austria and brought up in Montreal Canada. Initially trained as a dancer, she went on to study Music at McGill University and Opera production at the London Opera Centre in England.

After 45 years of experience working in opera houses and arts institutions literally all over the world as stage director, artistic director, producer and docent, Jeannette had a dream to develop a creative oasis where artists from all disciplines could come and work, if only for a short time, in a peaceful, inspirational environment, away from the constraints and routine of daily life. The dream of every creative artist.

KARLA MUNDY is a vibrant, soulful and diverse vocalist, pianist, arranger and choir leader. Karla directs four community choirs in Vancouver and Vancouver Island. She leads harmony singing workshops throughout BC and organizes many singing camps, workshops and singing study trips abroad. Karla is a founding member of the No Sh!t Shirleys, TriVo, Cleia, Plough, Tanglewood Trio and Big Whoop! Karla is passionate about teaching harmony singing, getting the music off the page and digging deep into new musical territory.

In 2017, Karla began leading SongRoutes trips and has now organized trips to North Carolina, New Orleans, the Republic of Georgia, South Africa and Cuba. She is thrilled to be heading to France to collaborate with all of these wonderful teachers!