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In 2013 the charity that supports the Ballanta Academy of Music in Freetown, Sierra Leone asked Helen to volunteer for three months as a teaching and learning adviser, to work alongside staff to help them improve the quality of their teaching and learning. Helen had a busy and varied schedule. The Academy wanted to offer violin tuition to students, so Helen taught two of the teachers violin 'from scratch' using the Susuki method. They made rapid progress, developing secure technique, and were keen to introduce violin teaching the following year. She also gave singing lessons, trained the choir, and organised recitals. Helen found her years of dance training came in handy too - she was asked to teach ballet, and offered individual coaching to a student who went on to win a talent competition.
After leaving Sierra Leone Helen volunteered in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand, teaching in a childcare centre and helping with building renovation work. Helen then went on to spend time in Ecuador, initially working in Quito as an assistant in a childcare centre and a disabled young person’s centre, and subsequently volunteering in the Amazon as a conservation project worker and visiting the Galapagos Islands. |
On her return to the UK, Helen continued to pursue her interest in outreach, working with The Bach Choir's 'Vocalise' Community Engagement Programme, performing in the Mr Lear - Nonsense and Rhyme Concert at St John's Smith Square, and taking part in the Aurora Orchestra's 'Seven Seeds' outreach project in collaboration with the tri-borough music hub, premiering John Barber's new work at the Royal Albert Hall.
Most recently Helen has been active in developing a range of outreach projects with the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she works as General Manager and Outreach Co-ordinator. She is the Assistant Director of HPO Songbirds and has assisted with a range of choral projects with 7-13 year olds, developing new collaborations with 'Awards for Young Musicians' which works with children of low-income families, organising workshops and masterclasses for 8-18 year-olds, working in collaboration with the East Sussex Music Hub (Create Music), and organising free of charge relaxed and interactive children's concerts and outdoor family concerts with dynamic repertoire to increase accessibility and diversity of engagement with classical music.
Through Ensemble OrQuesta, Helen is working alongside Marcio da Silva in developing opera Outreach in primary schools and a range of multi-artform opera projects using physical theatre, dance, instrument and vocal workshops, and performance participation opportunities to provide young children with immersive opera opportunities. Their most recent opera participatory project, organised in June 2022 in conjunction with HPO, was Puccini's La Bohème.
In response to the increasing problems of isolation and loneliness in the elderly caused by the pandemic, Helen is also developing creative music links with care homes through a personal initiative that she has developed entitled HPO Connections. The foundations for this were launched with a grant from Project ArtWorks.
Most recently Helen has been active in developing a range of outreach projects with the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she works as General Manager and Outreach Co-ordinator. She is the Assistant Director of HPO Songbirds and has assisted with a range of choral projects with 7-13 year olds, developing new collaborations with 'Awards for Young Musicians' which works with children of low-income families, organising workshops and masterclasses for 8-18 year-olds, working in collaboration with the East Sussex Music Hub (Create Music), and organising free of charge relaxed and interactive children's concerts and outdoor family concerts with dynamic repertoire to increase accessibility and diversity of engagement with classical music.
Through Ensemble OrQuesta, Helen is working alongside Marcio da Silva in developing opera Outreach in primary schools and a range of multi-artform opera projects using physical theatre, dance, instrument and vocal workshops, and performance participation opportunities to provide young children with immersive opera opportunities. Their most recent opera participatory project, organised in June 2022 in conjunction with HPO, was Puccini's La Bohème.
In response to the increasing problems of isolation and loneliness in the elderly caused by the pandemic, Helen is also developing creative music links with care homes through a personal initiative that she has developed entitled HPO Connections. The foundations for this were launched with a grant from Project ArtWorks.
