The Choir Director Podcast
The Choir Director Podcast is the essential resource for choir directors, conductors and vocal leaders who want to build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals and create outstanding musical experiences.
Hosted by international conductor and festival producer Russell Scott, each episode shares practical strategies for rehearsal technique, vocal training, repertoire choices, choir recruitment, leadership, performance preparation and managing real-world community and amateur choirs.
Whether you lead a school choir, church choir, community choir or professional ensemble, this podcast gives you actionable ideas you can apply immediately — from improving blend and tuning to motivating singers and growing your choir.
Featuring expert interviews with leading conductors, vocal specialists, composers and choir educators, alongside solo coaching episodes packed with real solutions for real choir challenges.
If you’re a choir director who wants practical tools, musical insight and leadership strategies to help your singers thrive, this is the podcast for you.
Episodes
35 episodes
Ep#35: How Simon Halsey Rehearses For Sound And Meaning
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 joine...
Ep #34: Zimfira Poloz: Healthy Young Voices Grow When Choir Becomes Community
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 voc...
Ep #33: Manvinder Rattan: You Get Better Faster When You Conduct The Choir You Actually Have
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 ...
Ep #32: Francis Cathlina: When Story-First Choir Direction Changes Everything
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 ...
Ep #31: Mark Hayes: How A World-Class Arranger Writes For Real Choirs
The fastest way to level up your choir is not another trick, it’s understanding how great choral music is actually built and how to bring it to life with real singers. I’m joined by Mark Hayes, internationally recognised composer, arranger, con...
Ep #30: Jack Blume: The Impact of ‘a cappella’ Singing on Modern Day Communities
A choir can sound like a full band, but only if the arranging, vocal style, and rehearsal priorities are crystal clear. We’re joined by Jack Blume, UK-based composer and producer, and the arranger, orchestrator, and musical supervisor behind th...
Ep #29: Choir Directors Need Rest Too.... Burnout and the Effect
Burnout in choir leadership rarely announces itself. It shows up as the rehearsal you used to love feeling heavy, the email you cannot bring yourself to write, the constant sense that you must hold the whole room together. I’m Russell Scott, an...
Ep #28: Eimear Crehan: Choirs Help Us Deal with Life — Music, Connection and Belonging
Choirs do not just teach harmony, they teach people how to belong. Russell Scott sits down with Irish singer-songwriter and vocal and creativity coach Eimear Crehan to unpack what happens when you treat creativity as a practice, not a talent, a...
Ep #27: Christopher Munce: Stop Chasing The Perfect Choir And Start Singing
The fastest way to improve your choir might not be a new warm-up or a clever rehearsal plan. It might be dropping the “presenter voice” and leading with genuine curiosity. Russell Scott shares a cross-over conversation with Christopher Munce (C...
Ep #26: Herbert Washington: How the Phoenix Boys Choir Went from Car Park Rehearsals to Grammy Gold
A boys’ choir that can rehearse in a car park, tour for weeks, premiere brand new works, and still feel like a safe place to belong does not happen by accident. We sit down with Herbert Washington, Artistic Director of the Phoenix Boys Choir, a...
Ep #25: Walter Martella: Stop Talking And Start Singing In Rehearsal
Choirs do not become resilient by accident. They last when rehearsal choices are deliberate, kind, and repeatable, even when singers have mixed skills and limited time. I’m joined by Walter Martella, a Canadian musician, conductor, and educator...
Ep #24: Michael Joseph Barrett: How To Programme Music From Other Cultures With Excellence And Respect
“Authentic” choral singing is not about getting the accent roughly right and hoping the audience buys it. It is about understanding why a piece exists, what a culture expects singing to do, and how your rehearsal habits either honour that truth...
Ep #23: Jeremy Matheis: The Choir Director Who Sells Vision, Not Just Music
Your choir already has a sound, but can you change it on demand, protect voices across styles, and still keep rehearsals upbeat? Russell Scott sits down with Jeremy Matheis, Artistic Director of Choir of the Sound in Seattle, to get practical a...
Ep #22: Isaac Cates: Earn It Before You Teach It; Live It Before You Lead It
A gospel choir can sound thrilling and still miss the point if the style is borrowed without the roots. I’m joined by Kansas City composer, conductor, pianist, and choral clinician Isaac Cates, an artist whose music is sung in over 17 countries...
Ep #21: Gary Seighman: You're Not the Engine — You're the Track. Neuroscience and the Self-Driving Ensemble
Your choir can sing the right notes and still feel disconnected. The missing piece is often not “more rehearsal”, but better ensemble connection: eyes up, bodies engaged, breath shared, and responsibility spread across the group. I’m joined by ...
Ep #20: Why Your Choir Needs to Leave the Rehearsal Room
A choir can rehearse for years and still feel like a group of strangers who happen to sing in the same room. The moment you take singers on the road, something changes: conversations deepen, trust builds faster, and the music starts to sound li...
Ep #19: Tori Longdon: Are You Climbing The Right Wall As A Conductor ?
Most conducting careers do not begin with a neat roadmap. They begin with a choir, a spark of curiosity, and a moment where you realise you would rather shape the sound than blend into it. We’re joined by Tori Longdon, Principal Conductor of th...
Ep #18: Peter Futcher: A Rehearsal Comes Alive When We Add Value
Most choirs don’t need more rehearsal time. They need rehearsals that feel alive. Russell Scott is joined by choral conductor, composer and educator Peter Futcher of Choir Matters to explore what actually lifts a choir from competent to compell...
Ep #17: Susan Cox: The Art of Nurturing Mature Voices
The fastest way to improve a choir is not a new warm-up or a clever baton trick. It is building trust so singers feel safe enough to actually sing. Russell Scott sits down with Susan Cox, director of the Grand Union Community Choir, to explore ...
Ep #16: Maria A. Ellis: What If Classical Music Is A Pop Secret?
You can feel when a choir rehearsal has real trust, and you can also feel when singers are holding back. Maria A. Ellis, St Louis-based choral conductor, educator, and founder of Girl Conductor, joins us to get practical about how we create reh...
Ep #15: Oliver Rudin: What Does It Take to Build a Choir That Genuinely Surprises People?
A choir can sing accurately and still leave an audience cold, so what actually creates a performance that feels alive? We sit down with Oliver Rudin, a Basel-based artistic director who works deeply with youth ensembles and the Basel Boys Choir...
EP #14: Craig Lees: How To Make Pop And Rock Choirs Sound Real
Pop and rock choir can sound electrifying or it can sound like a classical choir wearing a pop costume. We sit down with Craig Lees, Principal Lecturer in Popular Voice at Leeds Conservatoire and a leading figure in contemporary pop choral work...
Ep #13: Johannes David Wolff: Make Them Laugh Twice - Rehearsals Young Singers Actually Want to Come Back To
A youth choir doesn’t thrive because you pick the perfect repertoire. It thrives because rehearsal feels like a place young singers choose to return to, week after week, even when life gets messy and confidence wobbles. I’m joined by Berlin-bas...
Ep #12: Myles Finn: How Musical Theatre Transforms Choir Rehearsals (And Engagement Overnight)
A choir warm-up on a whiteboard turns into a viral moment, then into a teaching philosophy. We sit down with Myles “It’s Mr Finn” Finn to talk about what actually makes singers lean in: not performative energy, but real craft, clear standards, ...
Ep #11: Daniel Raaflaub: What If Movement Is The Shortcut To Better Singing
The scariest moment for many choir directors is not the high note, it is the first time you ask the group to move and everyone suddenly forgets how to stand. We sit down with choir choreographer Daniel Raaflaub to get practical about choir chor...