Associate Choral Leader Programme
The Associate Choral Leader Training Programme is a free professional development opportunity for emerging conductors, offering hands-on experience, expert-led workshops, and the chance to develop confidence as a musical leader in a supportive and collaborative environment. The programme explores conducting technique, rehearsal skills, vocal leadership, programming, and work with choirs of all kinds, with regular opportunities for participants to conduct and receive feedback. Open to aspiring choral conductors, orchestral conductors, and vocal animateurs alike, sessions take place on Tuesday afternoons during term time at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Recent workshops have included:
- Conducting technique with Patrick Russill, Eamonn Dougan and Neil Ferris
- Working with children’s voices with Laurel Neighbour
- Vocal health with Charlotte Mobbs
- Orchestral conducting with Alice Farnham
- Copyright, PRS and programming with Tim Ruffer
- Working with the organ with Nick Freestone
- Singing and Nutrition with Julie Cooper
Applications for 2026-27 have now closed.
Applications for 2026-27 have now closed. If you’re interested in applying for the 2027-28 ACL programme, please email choirs@smitf.org and we’ll get in touch when applications open.
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Phoebe Halpern
Phoebe Halpern
Phoebe Halpern is a musician and educator dedicated to widening access and supporting communities through youth music. She graduated with first-class honours in Music from Durham University, where she was Director of Music at St Chad’s College, performed with a range of student ensembles, and led projects including a choral programme supporting 100 local young singers from underrepresented backgrounds. Her work was recognised in the House of Commons and by the Student Global Leadership Foundation, who appointed her a Community Impact Scholar in 2024. She went on to study a Music PGCE and Master’s at Jesus College, Cambridge, researching the intersections of music education, religion and social equity, while teaching in both mainstream and SEND schools. She has also worked with Three Choirs Festival and the charities Music for All and Grief Encounter. Phoebe currently works in Education and Community Engagement with The Gesualdo Six and Odyssey Festival Orchestra.
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Harvey Lok
Harvey Lok
Harvey Lok is a conductor recognised for curating distinctive, concept-driven programmes that explore the relationship between music, literature, and spirituality. He is the co-founder and director of the vocal ensemble Hemiola and currently studies choral conducting with Nicholas Chalmers at the Royal Academy of Music. Harvey holds a first-class BA in Music and English from Royal Holloway, University of London, where he was a student conductor for the Choir of Royal Holloway and Assistant Conductor of both the Symphony Orchestra and New Music Collective. He has also worked with the Asian Youth Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, NOĒMA, and the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus in workshops and masterclasses.
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Katie Lyons
Katie Lyons
Katie Lyons graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a first-class honours degree in Music in 2022, before moving to Manchester to complete a PGCE in Secondary Music Education at Manchester Metropolitan University and the Royal Northern College of Music in 2023. An avid lover of choral music, Katie has sung with many choirs in Manchester and Belfast, including Somnium Chamber Choir, Sestina Early Music Ensemble, and Belfast Cathedral Choir, and was a Diocese of Manchester choral scholar in 2022/23. She has worked in music education for over six years in a variety of settings, including one-to-one tuition, choir leadership, music services, and as a secondary school curriculum teacher. Katie is passionate about making music accessible and enjoyable for all young people.
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Oliver Heath
Oliver Heath
Oliver Heath is a Northern Irish conductor, composer, and tenor. He is Choral Director for the Diocese of Salford and works with a variety of ensembles across Manchester and Yorkshire. He has held conducting scholarships with Sing for Pleasure, the Royal School of Church Music, and the Diocese of Leeds’ award-winning Schools Singing Programme, learning from some of the UK’s leading choral musicians. Alongside his conducting work, Oliver is an active composer of choral and vocal music, with published works performed by choirs across the UK. He is also a sought-after tenor, having recently been selected for Genesis 16 and the Chamber Choir Ireland Studio.
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Ben Nicoll
Ben Nicoll
Ben Nicoll studied conducting at the University of Manchester with Rob Guy, where he was selected for the conducting programme and led various ensembles, masterclasses, and two world premieres. After graduating, he became the conducting scholar at the University of Warwick, studying with Suzzie Vango and Tom Newall, and regularly conducting the Chamber Choir, Chorus, Symphony Orchestra, and Vox Ensemble at the Warwick Arts Centre and on tours to Manchester, Coventry, Lichfield, and Prague. Ben is also Musical Director for the Poynton Gilbert and Sullivan Society, conducting productions of HMS Pinafore and Iolanthe.