About Andrew Hopwood, vocal coach and professional singer
Andrew Hopwood was born in North Yorkshire. For 20 years he worked in the World of Opera; the majority of this time was spent with Opera North and Scottish Opera.
Andrew now teaches in Gloucestershire and continues to sing professionally. He takes in a wide range of engagements from oratorio and recitals to performances. Recent concert work has included the usual Repertoire of Mozart Requiem and Handel’s Messiah but also Stanford’s Songs of the Sea.
His teaching is now based on his private practice having retired from Cheltenham Ladies College after 16 years’ service. Andrew has continued to have successes with students wishing to take vocal exams with several students passing at diploma level. His success as a teacher is further emphasised by the fact that students have subsequently gained entry onto established music courses at colleges around the country to study voice. He also teaches music theatre and has helped students follow this path into singing.
Andrew is a member of The Association of Teachers of Singing (AoToS.). He attends workshops, seminars and training courses to keep himself in touch with the latest developments in the teaching of singing. To this end Andrew is currently studying EVT (Estill Vocal Training) which is refreshing and renewing his skills in line with latest scientific evidence.
More than just a singing teacher…
Andrew not only offers a classical teaching method but also offers a musical theatre singing style approach. He works with the following exam boards: The Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music, Trinity College, London and the London College of Music for musical theatre. More recently, Andrew has also helped and taught those working in the pop and rock idiom.
Andrew firmly believes that singing is not just for the young. At present, his most mature student is a 90-year-old who wishes to make the most of his singing with a male voice choir. In addition, these lessons have also subsequently helped resolve a longstanding breathing issue. This proves that one’s vocal age does not necessarily match one’s physical age, and that one is never too old to give singing a try! Indeed, some of Andrew’s students come through the ‘University of the Third Age’ and he helps many prolong their singing and enjoyment of music by actively coaching and using some rudimentary rehabilitation exercises. Andrew has always been particularly keen on good vocal health and teaches accordingly.
Andrew believes that it is important to practise what he preaches, and he continues to perform professionally. He is available as a soloist for a wide variety of musical performances, from formal oratorio and recitals through to that ‘special song’ at a wedding ceremony or reception or just an informal evening of music and song. Recent solo engagements have taken him as far afield as Kraków in Poland and Malta.
Andrew is also Music Director for the Thames Head Singers, conducts three concerts a year and leads workshops and singing days for them.
