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Can't wait to sing at this fantastic Music at the Maryborough Concert on February 2nd at 3pm. I will be singing favorite opera arias, classic musical theatre selections & French art songs, accompanied by my good friend Tom Doyle. You'll have to come along to see what the song selections are! :-) Tickets are only €10 and are on sale in Pro Musica. Early booking is advised! See you there!
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Gift Vouchers have arrived just in time for Christmas!
Gift Vouchers available for Singing & Piano Lessons this Christmas! The perfect gift for a current student or the budding musician! Various options available ranging from the 'Christmas Special' voucher (Four 1-hour lesson sessions for only €129) to the 'Junior Christmas Special' voucher (Four 30 minute sessions for only €82) to single lesson vouchers, this is the time to book in for the new year! New Studio space located in Ballygarvan just off Donnybrook Hill (only a few minutes from Cork Airport). Vouchers are presented beautifully printed and make the perfect gift! Inquire online at www.serenastandley.com, by email to [email protected], or via fb message to receive in time for Christmas! :-) **Limit of one 'Special Christmas Voucher' per person, additional two 'Special Christmas Vouchers' may be purchased as gifts. Happy Singing! 
Come along and enjoy some fantastic music by the Carrigaline Choral Group & special guests, the international award winning Voci Nuove, in Fota House this Sunday, 8th December at 8pm! 
Heading off to Vienna, Austria in just two days to perform in this wonderful 'friendship concert' - rehearsals start Wednesday night & I can't wait to be a part of this experience as a member of Voci Nuove! Check out the super cool poster for the event (can't wait!) :-) lots more exciting events coming up as well..... Stay tuned! 
So excited to be a part of this wonderful concert in St. Finbarre's Cathedral on October 12th @ 7:30pm with Voci Nuove! There are some amazing choirs sharing the stage & a big finale piece that's not to be missed! For those of you lucky enough to have already purchased your tickets, well done- the show is sold out already!!! Can't wait for Saturday evening to roll around! :-)
Hello to all of my brand new & returning students & choir members!
regularly for updates, tips, & insights into the world of singing and see what Serena & her students and choirs are up to on the Events page! There are lots of exciting events coming up that you won't want to miss! I hope you find my interactive style of teaching beneficial & most of all, FUN! :-) Happy Singing & see ye all soon!
http://m.youtube.com/user/Serenasoshort 
This has been one of the very best summers here in Ireland in a long time. With a heat wave that was followed by warm summer-dress weather for the past few weeks, I found myself feeling quite lazy and happy taking in some much needed sun. While the summer has been a lovely break, and I'm delighted to have a little more prep time before it really gets busy, I'm finding myself super excited to get back into the swing of things this Autumn. I've been taking the time to prepare for all of my upcoming teaching, performance, and travel engagements, and it's really getting me anxious to get started! There are lots of exciting performing opportunities coming up, including numerous concerts with Voci Nuove. We will be performing in the Cork Opera House in September, St. Finbarre's Cathedral in October. and in Vienna, Austria with full orchestra in November! I'm also just beginning work on a new project which will feature original work and some covers that I'm hoping to release in the coming months. I'm ecstatic about the explosion of students we've had enroll in the Mitchelstown School of Music and Arts for Autumn 2013 after the great success of our Summer Concert back in June. The Mitchelstown community seems very keen to explore their voices (we've had a great influx of children, adults, and teens!) and I can't wait to get started with them all! (I've enjoyed meeting so many new faces over the summer who are very keen to get going in September - I love the enthusiasm!) I've loads of exciting new music to dive into with my two junior choirs and the adult vocal ensemble from old school rock to Lady Gaga to classical to Disney! Interest in the brand new Bishopstown Community School Adult Choir (see Upcoming Events for more information on how to sign up) has been fantastic, and I hope to see many familiar faces (from previous Bishopstown & Ballincollig Community School courses I've taught) and lots of brand new singing enthusiasts at the open information night which will take place in September (stay posted for details on this). My Intermediate Singing Course has been picked up by Ballincollig Community School for Autumn 2013 which means that we will have record numbers again enroll in this never-done-before-in-Ballincollig course (so thrilled!) Both Ballincollig and Bishopstown Community Schools will be running my Introduction to Singing Course again this Autumn as well, and I'm really looking forward to sharing the art of singing with more students. I've found teaching to be so rewarding and I'm feeling very lucky to have built such fantastic relationships with my students over the past year in all three locations I'm currently teaching in as well as my wonderful private students who also give me great joy! What a rewarding school year its been. Now I'm ready to do it all over again! This is going to be one heck of a term everyone! And I will be one busy woman come September! I better go enjoy a little more sunshine before the crispy Autumn weather settles in...... :-) 
The Mitchelstown Junior Choir on our 2013 Spring School Tour just before one of our many performances of the day!
Having fun on the bus in between performances with the amazingly talented girls in my Junior Choir at Mitchelstown School of Music & Arts!
Members of the Mitchelstown Adult Vocal Ensemble Spring 2013
It's been a while since my last post, and I've loads to catch you all up on! Last I left you it was April with Voci Nuove on our 'Pitches be Crazy' Tour. May & June were whirlwinds, and flashed by so quickly! Lots went on including Voci Nuove winning two 2nd place titles in the Chamber & Sacred Music Competitions of the Cork Choral Festival, as well as being awarded the John Mannion Trophy for our performance of Orban's 'Ave Regina.' The Mitchelstown School of Music & Arts undertook its very first 'School Tour' putting on full performances at numerous schools throughout the Mitchelstown/Fermoy area. I had such an amazing experience leading my girls in such an exciting opportunity and they were more than thrilled with the huge applauses we received at each school. The junior choir performed songs by Katy Perry, One Direction (met with huge enthusiasm by our adoring fans!), Adele & others, and we also had a few brave soloists who sang on their own accompanied by the fabulous Mr. Tom Doyle. It was a fantastic day, and I felt so proud of my girls for the excellent work they put in this term- I can't say enough how much they wowed me at every school! (You can probably see in the pics here just how much fun we all were having!) In June I was delighted that the brand new Mitchelstown School of Music & Arts building in the heart of the town was being finished and we were able to put on our Voice Studio Summer 2013 Concert on the new stage! My good friend Tom Doyle was once again called upon to accompany the soloists & choirs and he was wonderful to work with as always! (I'm getting spoiled!) Not only was the place packed on the day (some had to stand!) we got the best feedback, with my wonderfully talented students truly showing their full potential on the day. I think I got more hugs and cuddles that day than anyone else in Cork! It was so wonderful to see such joy on everyone's faces- performers & audience members alike- I really felt like I had accomplished something amazing that day, and I'm so proud of all of my students. Their hard work really paid off, I was more than swept away by the talent displayed by all of my voice studio students, the junior choir, & the debut of the adult vocal ensemble (who sang some of my own choral arrangements!) At the end of the concert, it was time for the Voice Studio Awards, and each student was recognized for an outstanding achievement or attribute. The very first awards ceremony was met with great success, with the students feeling very proud of themselves (as they should!) and our very first Junior Choir Captain Award was given as well. It was so wonderful to see the look of surprise on my new JC Captain's face- because 'yes, I did notice that she had all of her lyrics memorized first' & 'yes, I did notice that she never missed a rehearsal' (even when she couldn't sing she came because she 'didn't want to miss out on learning the dance moves' - a choir conductor's dream come true!- such dedication! I have to say that all of my junior choir girls have demonstrated to me such dedication to their music & I am so, so proud of each of them. In fact, I can't wait to get started again in Autumn with all of my groups! :) The Summer Concert was such a smash hit that both the junior & adult vocal ensembles were asked to perform at another concert the following weekend! This positive feedback was so great for the groups (& me!) and we had a fantastic time putting on a second mini show! There is now so much interest in the junior choir that we are going to have two in Autumn of 2013 and the adult vocal ensemble is nearly doubled in size! Very exciting :D In other news, I completed my biomedicine course (I've always believed that singers should understand their bodies as their instruments are housed inside them- much more on this in future posts). My final exam took place the day before I headed away to California to see my family back home. I am looking forward to applying this knowledge to my teaching & my own singing. I really enjoyed spending lovely lazy July days in sunny California, with a much needed holiday catching up with family & friends. 'O Emperor's' new album 'Vitreous,' which features the female voices of Voci Nuove (including yours truly!) was released on July 12, 2013. It's a fantastic album & has been receiving numerous accolades upon its release. The Sunday Times named it Album Of The Week! Be sure to check out the track 'Brainchild' - The album can be purchased in any music shop, on Amazon, or downloaded on iTunes! Upon my return to Ireland, I received some exciting news about upcoming performance opportunities, so please 'stay tuned' and catch the next post (I promise you won't have to wait so long this time!) ;-) 
Beautiful views from atop Mount Diablo in California! I enjoyed this gorgeous view with my husband and parents in July!
My husband & I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary while on holiday in California, enjoying a much needed break together. :-)
 Voci Nuove spent last weekend performing our 'Pitches be Crazy' program on tour, where we stopped in both Ennis & Galway. A fantastic time was had by all involved!
The two concerts were very successful, with nearly full houses both nights and wonderful feedback from all of those who came to see us. All of the songs in our program were met with great applause, especially 'Short People' (I think its because Frank & I are so hilarious on our solos....), the Allelluia (a gorgeous piece full of intricate harmonies and two fabulous solos featuring the magical voices of Miss Emma Power and Mr. Conor Prendiville), and the moving 'My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord,' which had not only the entire choir pumped up with its rhythmical fervor, but the audience too (this will be performed at the Cork Choral Festival this coming weekend). The Choral Workshop we attended in Galway's gorgeous Hogwart's-like University was great fun, as seen in the photo above, and we all learned a lot, including how to perform a piece entirely made up of pictures, squiggly lines, and weird symbols....... The hard work the choir has put in all year really paid off this weekend, with this successful tour giving us the energy boost we need just in time for the busy weeks ahead....... Can't wait for the next tour Voci! Busy is the word best used to describe Voci's schedule for the upcoming week, where I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with my Voci peeps while getting tucked into 'everything choral' as we've a load of gigs on and the Cork Choral Competition itself to deliver on this week - check out the 'Upcoming Events' page to discover when you can catch Voci Nuove's next performances, which are not to be missed! ;-)  I absolutely love being a member of the Chamber Choir, Voci Nuove, and am super excited about this weekend because we are travelling up to Ennis & Galway to launch our 'Pitches be Crazy' tour!
After much success at our last concert in the Curtis Auditorium in Cork City (it was a sold-out, standing room only event- Yay!) we've decided to 'hit the road' and will be performing in St. Columba's Church in Ennis on Friday 19th April at 8 p.m. We are going to be performing alongside the Cantare Choir of Ennis, and are really looking forward to hearing them and being a part of what will be a fantastic evening! We're then heading to Galway Saturday for a Choral Workshop in the afternoon, followed by a performance in aid of Foundation Nepal at the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas at 8 p.m. Tickets are only a tenner (7 Euro for students), and we are hoping to raise a lot of money for this worthy cause! Performing with us Saturday evening will be Cois Clodaigh. At both events we are performing some amazing works- including the riveting 'Allelluia,' the gorgeous sacred pieces 'Ave Regina' & 'Ave Verum Corpus,' the brand new composition 'Spectrum,' the hilarious 'Short People' -guess who's got one of the solos in this one?! :) -and one of my all time favourite Spirituals by composer Moses Hogan, to name just a few. I'm eagerly awaiting our departure tomorrow afternoon for Ennis, and for those of you too far away to attend the gigs- have no fear- my trusty sidekick is going to be recording both events in HD, so check back soon to watch some new video clips in the coming days, of the'Pitches be Crazy' tour! Now, are we there yet...? ;) |
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