Lynette Alcántara: Teaching

Lynette has been teaching since her student days where she was awarded a Bachelor of Music Education with Honours in Voice at the University of Melbourne, specializing in classroom singing and choral skills. She is available for vocal workshops, masterclasses, adjudication, audition preparation and singing lessons. She has a thriving singing teaching practice in Cambridge, takes regular workshops for the BBC’s education work and is a Fellow and Director of Music at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Lynette also works as choral animateur for the outreach project of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, conducts King's Junior Voices and is the singing teacher for the choristers of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.

Singing

Lynette has a thriving singing teaching practice in Cambridge. She teaches students from a number of Cambridge colleges as well as adult pupils, ranging from beginners to Diploma standard. She regularly submits pupils for examination with the Associatied Board of the Royal Schools of Music. She is a member of the Association of Teachers of Singing (AOTOS) and the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) and whilst in Australia was a committee member of ANZATS (Australian and New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing) and on the vocal advisory panel of the Australian Music Examinations’ Board. She is a member of the British Voice Association.

Conducting

Lynette’s love of choral music led to her branching into choral conducting whilst at university where she learnt her trade working with the Australian Boys’ Choir and the Melbourne Youth Choir, and was assistant conductor and co-founder of The Young Voices of Melbourne. She has participated in conducting classes and masterclasses with Roland Young, Berwyn Roberts, Robert Rosen and Ed Bolkovac. She is a member of the Association of British Choral Directors (ABCD).

King's Junior Voices

In January 2008 Lynette founded King’s Junior Voices, a free 65 voice mixed children’s choir, as part of the King’s College Chorister Outreach Project in association with Sing Up and the National Singing Curriculum. Now that government funding has ceased, King’s Junior Voices is being set up as an independent charity and is continuing a strong association with King’s College, Cambridge. The choir rehearses for ten Saturdays each term from 10.30-12 at King’s College School.

The next King’s Junior Voices concert is on Thursday 8th July in King’s College Chapel at 7.30pm. Tickets are available on the door at £5 adults, £4 concessions and £2 children.

As part of her work for Sing Up (www.singup.org) Lynette has also worked with 25 Cambridge state primary schools preparing hundreds of children for performances in King’s College Chapel.

Wolfson College Choir

Since 1993 Lynette has conducted the choir of Wolfson College, Cambridge, building it up from a small choir of fifteen to the current fifty voice mixed choir. In addition to their college commitments, the choir has toured to Rome, sung in the Cambridge University 800th Prom, on BBC Songs of Praise and performed in Mahler’s Symphony of a thousand in Ely Cathedral and the Royal Albert Hall. 2007 and 2008 performances included singing Vivaldi Gloria, Schubert Mass in G, Mozart Coronation Mass and Pergolesi Stabat Mater in Cambridge and Rome in a joint collaboration with Coro Amici in Musica, Rome. Since 1998 she has been Director of College Music at Wolfson where she is also a Fellow.

With the Wolfson College Choir and Orchestra Lynette has conducted works including:

Bach Christmas Oratorio Parts 1 & 2
Britten A Ceremony of Carols, Hymn to St. Cecilia
Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem
Buxtehude Das Neugeborne Kindelein
Charpentier Te Deum, Messe de Minuit
Faure Requiem, Cantique de Jean Racine
Finzi In Terra Pax
Handel Chandos Anthems, Zadok the Priest
Handel Messiah Part 1
Haydn Kleine Orgelmesse, In sanae et vanae curae, Missa Sancti Nicolai
Mozart Missa Brevis in C
Mozart Requiem
Purcell Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day 1692, Come ye sons of art
Rutter Fancies, Requiem, Gloria
Schubert Mass in G
Sullivan The Mikado
Vivaldi Gloria
Various programmes of carols, 19th and 20th century Part-songs, light music and folksongs.

Vocal Workshops/Masterclasses/Courses

As a member of the BBC Singers Lynette regularly leads singing workshops as part of the BBC learning programme. In 2007 she lead workshops as part of the GoSing and Play it again initiatives which aimed to create learning and performance opportunities for a range of amateur singers and schools. She has given several workshops and professional development courses for the Royal National Institute for the Blind and held a series of classes at Joseph Clarke School for the visually impaired in Chingford. 2008 engagements included leading vocal workshops around the UK as part of I'd Do Anything BBC TV programme, and working as a choral mentor for Westminster Cathedral Primary School, as part of the BBC GoSing project. During 2009 Lynette has been a mentor for several Westminster Primary Schools as part of the BBC project The World in our City.

Past workshops:

12 June 2010, 12pm Mozart Requiem Come & Sing
Glasgow City Halls, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & BBC Singers

16 April 2009 2.30-4.15pm, Emmanuel Reformed Church, Cambridge: Cambridge Choral Festival Family Singing Workshop

18 June 2009 7.30pm King's College Chapel, Cambridge: King's College Choir Outreach concert conducted by Lyn Alcantara

2nd July 2008, 7.30 pm, King's College Chapel, Cambridge: SingUp Concert
1st July 2008, 7.30 pm, King's College Chapel, Cambridge: SingUp Concert
29th May 2008, 10.00 am and 3.00 pm, BBC Maidavale Studios, London: I'd Do Anything
28th May 2008, 10.00 am and 3.00 pm, Millenium Stadium, Cardiff: I'd Do Anything
27th May 2008, 10.00 am and 3.00 pm, The Sage, Gateshead: I'd Do Anything
26th May 2008, 10.00 am and 3.00 pm, City Halls, Glasgow: I'd Do Anything

Projects in 2007 included giving masterclasses and lectures to students at the Music Faculty, University of Melbourne.