Mark De-Lisser of Royal Wedding fame heads to Worthing

Choral director and vocal coach – and now famous for his arrangement of Stand By Me at the royal wedding – Mark brings passion, energy and finesse to any performance, says event organiser Amanda Mitchell.

“We absolutely cannot wait to get to work.”

The event returns to St Paul’s, Worthing on Saturday, June 22. Doors are 7.30pm, and tickets are available on https://lineupnow.com/event/1051030.

Taking part will be the choirs BrightSoul from Brighton; Spring Into Soul from Worthing; and MBM Gospel Choir from Guildford.

“The premise is the same as it was last year, which is to really show the power of group singing and to encourage members of the public to get involved. For the afternoon session, we are lucky to have the opportunity to work with Mark, a really prestigious director. In the afternoon, the three choirs get together and we will have what I am calling a masterclass for two and a half hours, and in that time, we will learn three songs… and that is a lot of work.

“Mark (who arranged Stand By Me for Harry and Meghan's wedding) will choose the songs, and the reason he doesn’t share what they are before is that the learning is so much richer if he doesn’t, rather than just listening to a clip and having a singalong.

“And then in the evening comes the public event (for which tickets are available). The idea of the concert is that the three different choirs sing their own songs that they have rehearsed, and then it will all culminate in a massed choir performance of the three songs that they have learned.”

All the singers will feel the benefits: “I think singing requires an interesting thing. The joy of singing is that you don’t have to be good. You can start at any standard. You can come along not being able to pitch a single note, but you go on from there to being able to hold a note, to being able to sing a tune, to being able to stand up and perform in public.

“I think singing brings out the best and the worst in us. I think singing exposes our squidgy bits. It exposes the vulnerable part of you, and it can make some people behave in strange ways or some people actually withdraw. But then suddenly they come out of themselves.

"It is a journey for everyone, and it is a journey I have been on for 16 years. I think I have learnt a huge amount about myself as a person and not just as a singer. I have discovered my voice, and I have gone from singer to band leader to choir director, but it has also been a personal journey of self-discovery, how I feel standing up in front of people, where I feel vulnerability, where sometimes I have a lack of self-belief. It shows you your weak spots and your vulnerabilities, but you work at it and you discover your strengths. You discover your inner steel. I would definitely say that it has given me self-confidence. I think without singing I would not have had the confidence to stand up in front of an audience and speak. I think it has given me self-belief, maybe my inner confidence, and because of singing, I think I can take that away with me into other areas of my life.”

The morning of the day will offer a public workshop. More details from the website above.

http://www.horshamartistsopenstudios.co.uk

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