Your choir doesn’t need to be “naturally creative” to improvise, it needs a safe structure and a reason to listen. I’m joined by Australian composer, conductor, and educator Stephen Leek, whose choral music is sung worldwide and whose workshop approach helps ensembles find confidence fast. We talk about improvisation for choirs that think they can’t improvise, using simple cues, layers, and shared attention to build real ensemble listening that feeds straight back into better tuning, blend, and musical line in scored repertoire.

We also zoom out into the bigger question of musical identity: what makes an “Australian choral sound”? Stephen shares how language, dialect, and accent shape choral colour, and why Indigenous place names and local texts can unlock crisp consonants, vivid vowels, and a sense of landscape in the voice. Along the way we touch on the Australian Voices, commissioning culture, and how developing singers from school age can create a whole new repertoire ecosystem.

Then we tackle a challenge every choir director is feeling right now: a world where AI can generate music quickly, and where choral programming can slip into safe, same-sounding choices. Stephen makes the case for risk taking, for choosing music that actually says something, and for stretching singers beyond what they already know, because that’s how choirs stay artistically alive.

If you enjoy practical rehearsal ideas, thoughtful choral conducting talk, and big-picture questions about culture and composition, subscribe, share this with a fellow director, and leave a rating and review so more conductors can find the show.

***

More about Steven Leek:

Website: www.stephenleek.com/

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
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• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

A choir concert can be technically impressive and still feel forgettable. Russell Scott sits down with Canadian choral conductor and educator Thomas Burton-Bresba to get into what makes an audience lean forward: programmes that move like stories, transitions that keep the room focused, and performance choices that feel motivated rather than gimmicky. If you are a choir director looking for better concert programming, this is a masterclass in intention and pacing.

We talk about building a programme from a single “must sing” piece, then mapping emotional peaks and valleys like a three-act play or a hero’s journey. Thomas shares why he sometimes asks audiences to hold applause, how silence can create tension, and how running pieces together can transform their meaning. We also explore immersive choral experiences, from surrounding the audience to choosing alternative venues that fit the theme and help more people feel welcome.

On the rehearsal side, we dig into culture building: creating a non-judgemental space, taking small risks over time, and staying patient when progress is slower than you hoped. Thomas is refreshingly honest about ego, the value of bringing in guest experts for different styles, and what choirs should ultimately aim for: leaving listeners more connected to each other through text, storytelling, and shared human feeling.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if this sparks ideas for your next concert, share it with a fellow choir director and leave a rating and review.

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More about Thomas Burton-Bresba:

Website: www.thomasburtonmusic.com
Instagram: @conductorburton

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
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• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

A choir does not become brave by being corrected into bravery. It becomes brave when singing feels safe, playful, and genuinely rewarding and that is exactly what Dutch music educator Casper De Haas brings to the table.

We talk about the Kodály concept in the real world of primary schools: singing games, movement, and simple call-and-response routines that quietly teach pitch matching, inner hearing, and listening. Casper shares how he normalises solo singing early (yes, with a stuffed animal), why big praise at the right moment changes everything, and what to do when children sing the interval but in the “wrong” register. If you lead a children’s choir or teach classroom music, you’ll take away practical rehearsal ideas you can use immediately.

From there we zoom out to choir craft: turning a class into an ensemble, preparing for performances where timing and focus matter, and using playful exercises to improve phrasing, vowels, articulation, and energy without draining the room. We also explore “older beginners” trainee teachers, how inhibition blocks singing, and how Casper uses step-by-step progress plus social proof to unlock two-part singing and confidence. It all comes back to one inclusive principle: music is for everyone.

If this sparks ideas for your next rehearsal, subscribe for more conversations with choir leaders worldwide, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow director who needs a fresh approach.

***

More about Casper de Haas:

Instagram: @meestercasper

YouTube: Meester Casper

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
• Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

An 80-voice rehearsal room can change a life, especially when you walk in thinking you don’t belong. Russell Scott sits down with Lhente-Mari Pitout, Artistic Director of the University of Pretoria Youth Choir, to explore what it really takes to bring young singers from different schools, languages, and backgrounds onto the rehearsal stage and onto the international stage with confidence.

We talk through Lhente's journey from a small-town musical upbringing to the World Youth Choir, and how that global exposure reshaped her view of culture, opportunity, and what choral music can do in a society coming out of apartheid. Along the way, we dig into what makes South African choral music so compelling today, from oral tradition and folk roots to a growing wave of young conductors and composers publishing new work that carries their stories forward.

For choir directors and conductors looking for practical rehearsal tools, Lente shares how she thinks about repertoire planning for festivals and competitions, why touring and shared concerts drive rapid development, and how she tackles diction across accents and languages including teaching Mandarin with the help of online resources. We also get honest about movement in singing, how it supports musicianship and self-awareness, and why belonging and mental health are not optional extras when you lead teenagers.

The conversation closes with Lente’s vision for supporting singers after they graduate, including her Youth Development Foundation that helps alumni step into real professional opportunities. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share it with a fellow choir director, and leave a rating and review so more conductors can find the show.

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More about Lhente:

Website: https://upyouthchoir.com/
Instagram: @lhente

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
• Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

You can hear it in the first ten minutes with a great choir: the sound is alive, the tuning locks, and the words mean something. That level of responsiveness is not luck, and Simon Halsey CBE has spent a lifetime proving why.

We’re joined by one of Britain’s leading choral conductors to get practical about what builds a world-class symphonic chorus across professional, youth and community settings. Simon shares how his early years as a cathedral chorister shaped his musical instincts, why conductor training still matters, and how some of the biggest career steps come from learning on the job when you’re brave enough to say yes. We also dig into the less glamorous side of choral leadership: the disciplined score study that lets you walk into rehearsal with real authority, from text meaning and structure to harmony, balance and who holds the third in the chord.

From Oslo to London to Barcelona, Simon compares choral cultures and rehearsal realities: consonant precision versus vowel colour, fast note-learning versus deeper timbre work, and why you cannot run the same rehearsal with two different choirs even when the repertoire is identical. Expect concrete rehearsal technique for tuning, blend and colour, plus a powerful reminder that amateurs and professionals deserve the same musical respect, because the problems are often the same.

If you lead a choir and want better rehearsals, stronger communication and a higher standard without losing joy, press play. Subscribe, share with a fellow choir director, and leave a rating and review so more conductors can find the show.

***

More about Simon Halsey:

Website: https://intermusica.com/artist/Simon-Halsey

***

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
• Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

A children’s choir can sound polished and still not be truly free. The turning point is trust, and that’s where this conversation with Zimfira Poloz, Artistic Director of the Toronto Children’s Chorus and a University of Toronto educator in vocal pedagogy, gets practical fast.

We talk about what it really takes to develop healthy young voices: playful first steps, audition nerves, and the small choices that tell a child “you’re safe here”. Zimfira shares how she builds choir culture so singers feel they belong, speak up, and take ownership of the ensemble. We also dig into independence, including what happens when young singers perform a cappella, shift formations, and make decisions on stage without the conductor present.

There’s plenty for choir directors and vocal leaders who want better rehearsals too: English diction, vowel placement, teaching sound with clear physical cues, and how to choose repertoire that trains flexibility rather than locking singers into one colour. From authentic world music to the demands of large-scale classical works, we explore why style should change with the music and how that benefits developing voices.

We close with a powerful leadership idea: don’t use the choir as a vehicle for your career, serve the singers through the music. If this helps you rethink your next rehearsal, subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share the episode with a fellow choir director who’d benefit.

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More about Toronto Childrens Chorus:

Website: www.torontochildrenschorus.com
Instagram: @torontochildrenschorus

***

Contact the Studio

Support the show

***

Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
• Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

Most conductors don’t struggle because they lack passion. They struggle because the job asks for two hard skills at once: musical clarity and human leadership. I’m joined by Manvinder Rattan, choral and orchestral conductor and one of the UK’s most experienced conductor trainers, to talk about what actually makes choir rehearsals work when the clock is ticking and the choir in front of you is wonderfully, messily real.

We get into the craft of preparation: why “winging it” leaks confidence, how to form a realistic picture of what good sounds like for your specific ensemble, and how targeted vocal warm-ups and simpler repertoire can build tuning, blend, diction, and belief quickly. Manvinder shares the principle he teaches again and again: conduct the choir you’ve actually got, not the one you’re fantasising about. That shift changes everything from your language to your pacing to your choice of goals across an eight-week run-up to a concert.

We also go beyond notes and beats into choir culture and conductor mindset. We talk about balancing warmth with authority, setting expectations without intimidation, and handling people issues with care through structures like voice reps and private conversations. For experienced choir directors with long-held habits, Manvinder explains how filming rehearsals and doing video-based coaching links gesture to musical reaction so change becomes practical, not theoretical. We finish with a powerful reminder: the conductor is not the show, quiet presence builds trust, and sometimes you have to project confidence before you feel it.

If you enjoy this conversation, subscribe so you never miss an episode, share it with a fellow choir director, and leave a rating and review to help more conductors find the show.

***

Find out more about Manvinder:

Website: www.manvinderrattan.com

***

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Support the show

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
• Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.

Your choir can sing the right notes and still leave the audience cold. The difference is often not talent, but story and culture and how deliberately we build both.

We sit down with Dr Francis Cathlina, Vietnamese American conductor and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Memphis, to unpack his story-first approach to choral music making. We talk about how a clear narrative can guide concert programming, unify repertoire across centuries, and help singers understand what they are communicating. Francis shares a concrete example of themed programming built around “The Five Love Languages”, plus simple ways to extend the concept into the audience experience without turning the concert into a gimmick.

From there, we get practical about performance. When does movement on stage become meaningful storytelling, and when does it become a distraction? Francis explains how he balances organic, singer-led gesture with choreographed moments, why the sound must always come first, and how tools like video playback and a “1 to 10” intensity scale can keep expression honest and ensemble-focused. We also dig into rehearsal process: clean musical accuracy, healthy tone production, then artistry, taught in an organic, improvisatory way that matches what the ensemble needs in the moment.

If you’re looking for actionable ideas on rehearsal culture, individual accountability, section leadership, and keeping momentum when progress stalls, you’ll leave with a notebook full of approaches to try. Subscribe for more conversations for choir directors, share this with a fellow conductor, and please leave a rating and review so more choral leaders can find the show.

***

More about Francis Cathlina:

website: www.franciscathlina.com
instagram: @franciscathlina

Their new album: Between Love and Law

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Support the show

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Resources:

The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.

• Website: thechoirdirectorpodcast.com
• Mailing List: Join our Newsletter

Follow Russell Scott:

• Website: russellscott.org
• Instagram: @russellscottofficial
• Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
• X: @russellscottuk

(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.