SENSE OF SOUND A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL HAILED A SUCCESS

Sense of Sound, organisers of the Voices Festival of a cappella singing, has hailed the event a great success.

Over the course of the weekend, the city of Liverpool was filled with the sound of a cappella singing in all its forms. From the uplifting and powerful sound of choral singing, to the music of Joni Mitchell the incredible talent of a world-renowned beat-boxer and even Mongolian Throat Singing, all capped off with a Big Sing at the Bluecoat which closed the festival.

Voices began with an innovative national conference into the effects of singing on health, at which the groundwork for an open forum sharing ideas and best practice in the field was laid, following presentations from key industry professionals including Phoene Cave (Nordoff Robins) and Trish Vella-Burrows (Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Music, Arts & Health).

The conference was followed by a weekend of performances, with standing room only available at both Friday evening’s tribute to Joni Mitchell, which featured Connie Lush and Saturday 

evening’s concert, performed by world renowned beat-boxer Shlomo. Over a dozen choirs performed to a busy bluecoat hub on Saturday afternoon and a huge crowd packed out the space to take part in Sunday evening’s Big Sing. 

Saphena Aziz, Director at Sense of Sound and Festival Organiser said “We had a fabulous time organising this year’s Voices Festival and I can’t believe how much of a success the weekend was. I’d like to thank all of those people who were involved, the choir and to those who came along to enjoy a performance or a workshop over the course of the weekend as your support means so much to us. Plans are already in the making for next year’s festival, which will be even bigger and better, taking place throughout the city.”

Voices Festival was presented by arts organisation, Sense of Sound and arts venue, the Black-E. Sense of Sound is one of the most unique and inspirational companies in the UK today. Led by four female directors; Jennifer John, Saphena Aziz, Juliet Russell – recently a voice coach for BBC One’s upcoming talent show ‘The Voice’ -  and Perri Alleyne-Hughes, the organisation aims to create and produce amazing ways to celebrate singing and the Voices Festival  was no exception.

The Voices Festival was produced by Sense of Sound and the Black-E, more information can be found at www.senseofsound.net.