Moira Morrison is pleased to take on the role of Musical Director with Voces Inauditae from May 2018 onwards. Moira has a passion for getting people singing and making music visible. She is an experienced conductor, composer and vocal animateur and leads singing projects across the county. She was chorus master for the Lammermuir Festival production of Noyes Fludde in 2016, assistant to Sian Edwards, conducted a newly commissioned Opera for the 2018 Lammermuir festival. For Haddo Arts festival 2017 she coached and directed 120 singers and a youth orchestra for a Snape Maltings Friday Afternoon project as well as composing the title song for the event ‘A Song for Haddo’. Through the Youth Music Initiative she has composed and delivered 9 original singing projects in over 50 Scottish schools.
Moira directs Dunbar Voices youth choir, teaches musicianship for the National Youth Choir of Scotland and devises and delivers bespoke singing and musicianship workshops. She sings with the contemporary composers choir Voces Inauditae. Previous choirs Moira has worked with include: Newcastle Bach Choir, The Lemington Male Voice Choir, Stagecoach Choir Northeast and the Pongos Youth Choir.
A pianist and singer Moira completed a BA (2007) and Mmus (2009) at Newcastle University where she specialised in conducting and composing. Since returning to Scotland Moira has continued her training in choral leadership and musicianship methodology with courses at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the National Youth Choir of Scotland and with the Associated Board of Choral Directors. Moira’s unique style of musical directing is fuelled by her fascination in the relationship between music and movement and the Kodaly method of music education. She founded the worlds first juggling choir – Circus Voices – which she directs and writes for.
Having sung with Voces Inauditae since 2017, she is thrilled to get involved with a choir that accepts the importance of social history and politics in choral music. We’re very lucky to have her!
Caroline Lesemann-Elliott (Founding Musical Director) is from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she received the majority of her musical education in viola and violin through the youth music programs at the University of Michigan, as well as through the Huron High School Performing Arts program. She first became interested in conducting through an elective course at the Indiana University Summer Music Clinic. After deciding to do an academic degree at the University of Edinburgh, rather than conservatoire, she recognised her true love for composition and conducting. In the past, she has studied conducting with Greg Batsleer and Russell Cowieson. As of September 2018, she is attending Royal Holloway for a Master’s in Musicology, specialising in feminist musicological approaches and music by 16th century English women. She is the recipient of the Principal’s Scholarship from Royal Holloway, and is now a St. Mathias Trust Scholar. Keep up to date with her work as a conductor and composer at her webpage.
Chris Hutchings (assistant director) is a composer based in Edinburgh, whose works have been performed and commissioned by a wide variety of choirs, including the BBC Singers. You can listen to his work at soundcloud.com/hutchingsmusic – including a few performances by Voces Inauditae! – and see his work at hutchingsmusic.co.uk . Chris sings tenor (sometimes bass) with Voces, and sometimes accompanies or directs rehearsals. He also sings in Greyfriars Kirk Choir in Edinburgh.
Voces Inauditae 