Join us for a day of singing on Saturday, February 17, with Brendan Taaffe, a dynamic songleader and composer from Brattleboro, Vermont.

Workshop will take place from 10 am to 4 pm at Runnells Hall, 25 Deer Hill Road (Route 113) in Chocorua, NH.

Cost is $50, and scholarships are available. Download registration form here.

Brendan is known for his encouraging teaching, lush tenor voice, and his gift for bringing out everyone’s talents. For ten years, Brendan has been running singing retreats with Turtle Dove throughout Europe and North America. He also teaches with Village Harmony and has led workshops with choirs throughout the UK, US, Canada, and New Zealand. To learn more about Brendan, visit his website at www.brendantaaffe.com.

The director of The Bright Wings Chorus, Brendan also performs with The Waxwing Four, a quartet that performs the jubilee gospel of the early 1900s. Currently short-listed for a Guggenheim for his work as composer, Brendan has been a dedicated student of different traditions, having recently been a Research Fellow at the Appalachian Sound Archives in Berea, Kentucky. He halso traveled to Zimbabwe, Cuba, New Zealand, and France to work with master singers.

Together we will explore the richness of different world harmony traditions, including traditional American harmony (early gospel, Appalachian ballads, shape note hymns), Zimbabwean makwayera singing, and Brendan’s original compositions. All parts will be taught by ear and no experience is necessary—singing is a birthright for all of us, so come and sing.

“What a gift—this music of the world that brings us all together from our different cultures and practices giving us all the same joyful, creative purpose. Isn’t it lovely to know we can come from far and afield and know each other somehow? How we are all part of this great human family humbly struggling to know ourselves and live in joy and love in the world. These camps are about so much more than singing…”

“Your personal qualities of being open, uncompetitive, caring and genuine created the environment that allowed many of the other wonderful moments to happen. That is very unusual–to be a leader who, by example, encourages everyone to connect, not compete, through the music.”