William Vann

English Song (NEW TUTOR FOR 2012)
Beginning with late 16th Century lute song and continuing today, the composition of art song in England and English-speaking countries has a long history. William Vann is Founding Director of the London English Song Festival and in this class participants of all standards are invited to explore a vast range of English Song repertoire.

William Vann studied as a pianist at the Royal Academy of Music with Malcolm Martineau and Colin Stone, graduating with distinction; in 2008 he won the Gerald Moore award for young accompanists and in October 2010 won the Great Elm Awards Accompanist Prize. He is also a past winner of the Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship, is supported by the Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust and was the Hodgson Fellow in piano accompaniment at the RAM for the academic year 2009-10. He has performed as an accompanist at the Aldeburgh Festival, Wigmore Hall, Sage Gateshead, St John's, Smith Square, St George's, Bristol and St David's, Cardiff. He has worked with and directed choirs in the UK, Sweden and Nigeria and is the Assistant Conductor for Bury Court Opera in Surrey. He is a Samling Scholar, a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a former Britten-Pears Young Artist and Young Songmaker and the Director of Music at St Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road. William is also the Director of Music at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.