Elena´s passion is working with children choirs and discovering ways of helping these young singers to grow through choral music.
Children choirs (up to 16 y/o) and primary school age choirs
Since 2021, Elena has been the Choral Lead of the award-winning programme In Harmony Opera North (IHON). She is responsible for writing and developing the Choral strand of the IHON Curriculum, delivering weekly curricular choral sessions across six different primary schools—working with around 1500 primary school children from culturally diverse backgrounds every week—and leading extracurricular choir rehearsals.
- Opera North Chorus + Y4 students: The Big Get Together Celebration
- Researching the arts in primary schools – 2022
- “Be you, and don’t be shy!” | In Harmony: Singing in a choir
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Elena founded in 2022 and since then she artistically directs, the In Harmony Opera North Choir. The IHON Choir is a non-auditioned training children’s choir formed of singers from six different primary state schools within the In Harmony programme of Opera North. The choir rehearses separately weekly and gets together twice a term.
With a strong scenic-based approach to choral singing and a focus on choral literacy, excellence and inclusion, it aims to give the In Harmony Opera North singers a first-hand high-quality experience to choral singing and performance before they move on to the Opera North Youth Company Ensembles.
- Wonderland Restored by Will Todd at the Howard Assembly Room 2024 – ChorusMaster watch watch watch watch
- Music for Youth Festival performance 2024 – Doncaster – Conductor
- A Choral Theatre Project – deviced for summer 2023- Artistic director, conductor – watch watch watch watch watch
- Spring Choral Concert – ON Chlidren´s Chorus and IHON Choir – Conductor watch watch
- 10th Anniversary In Harmony Opera North Gala 2022 – Conductor watch
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Elena works ocasionally with the Opera North Children’s Chorus (ONCC):
- Conductor (deputy): Opera North Children’s Chorus soundtrack recording of ‘Somewhere’ 2024, a short film for Sky Arts produced by Enon Films and Opera North.
- Taking rehearsals as deputy since 2021, she has rehearsed with ONCC works such as: All King´s Men – Richard Rodney Bennett, Arion and the Dolphin – Philip Godfrey, Water Diviner´s Tale – Rachel Portman, Wonderland Restored – Will Todd and children´s choir specific repertoire.
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Elena’s experience on founding, creatively leading and working within primary age choir programmes started in 2015.
Elena artistically co-lead and developed the Voces Blancas del Nalón School Choirs Project for Voces Blancas del Nalón (Voblana). She co-lead the musical progression routes for singers from state school choirs to the main concert choirs, founded five primary school choirs and musically directed three from 2015 to 2020. Elena ocasionally coached the Children´s choir Voblaninas from 2015 to 2020, and founded and musically directed the Sonidopolis Pop Academy Children’s Choir in Gijón, Spain from 2017 to 2020.
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Get in touch for the full bio/work experience, and have a look at some of Elena’s work on her social media platforms.