May 17 – GAMPA Hosts Gospel Workshops
The Gibraltar Academy of Music and Performing Arts has recently organised a weekend of “Gospel Workshops” for the Gibraltar Youth Choir and other singing students led by Audrey Lawrence-Mattis, choir Director or the prestigious AMC Gospel Choir.
Audrey is well known on the British gospel scene as an award-winning choir director of repute. Starting from an early age in 1988, she sang with the choir which provided the backing vocals on the anti-apartheid anthem “Something Inside so Strong” by Labi Siffre.
Audrey has directed a number of established gospel choirs over the years including Highgate Gospel Choir, NTCG Mass Choir and most recently Vicinity Gospel Choir. In 1995 she received the BGMAN Choir Director of the Year award and currently works within the music industry as a vocal coach and choir tutor. She has worked closely with a range of organisations including Llangollen International Eisteddfod, British Gospel Arts, schools, colleges and universities all over the UK and has delivered at hundreds of singing workshops. Her choir the AMC Gospel Choir has being invited to work with the American Grammy nominee Howard McCrary at Ronnie Scott’s. AMC members have appeared on TV, stage and have provided backing singing and musicianship for tours. Shows have included 'Songs of Praise', BBC Radio 2 'Gospel Train' 'Stars in their Eyes' and the MOBO’s. She was recently in charge of the Backing Singer Team for the Leona Lewis Concert in Liverpool (which featured local singer Jeremy Perez)
Audrey Mattis worked on a number of different pieces with the Gibraltar Youth Choir from early 20th century to Modern Gospel pieces as well as “Something inside so strong” of which she, as mentioned earlier, was a part of the original recording. She went through a brief history of Gospel Music and gave the singers different exercises to work on as well as pieces to keep in their repertoire. These workshops took place over two full days and the students involved thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The spent the full weekend studying this subject and developing their knowledge
These Sessions were organised by the academy working on behalf of the Government of Gibraltar and the Parasol Foundation as part of GAMPA’s Scholarship Programme. The academy says it hopes to continue bringing guest tutors over to help develop its academic programme.
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