September always feels like a beginning. A change in the light, schools go back, the slight morning chill, and there is a sense of rhythm returning after the looseness of summer. For singers, this is the ideal moment to start planning and shaping the year ahead.

Let me invite you to join me for Sing Joyfully 2025: Mozart at the Helm. This takes place on 15–16 November in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, UK. But beware, applications for singers close on Friday, 19 September, in just two weeks, so the time to decide is now.

The reason the application date comes so close to the start of the Autumn term is simple. With Mozart, you need time,  not just to touch the notes, but to properly get inside them. Amongst other things, we will be working on staged excerpts, and that means singers must have long enough to feel they are in the middle of the music rather than only just getting their act together. Eight weeks of preparation will allow the music to settle, so that by November, you can sing w...

Why Mozart’s music demands your attention

In Mozart’s Vienna, wit meant more than humour. It was a sign of mental agility, the ability to turn an idea with elegance, to surprise with precision, to reveal something human through restraint. Mozart carried that quality everywhere: in the sparkle of his comic operas, in the stillness of his sacred music, and in the subtle craftsmanship of every phrase. He was playful, yes, but never without purpose — and that spirit is at the heart of Sing Joyfully 2025 in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, UK.

The joy and challenge of singing Mozart

That playfulness can mask just how exacting his writing is. In Prenderò quel brunettino, the duet for Fiordiligi and Dorabella in Così fan tutte, the singers must match tone, timing, articulation, and breath as if they were one voice, while also staying true to their characters, who are complete opposites. Fiordiligi is upright, idealistic and careful; Dorabella is impulsive, easily swayed, and mischievous. In p...