LADY EATWELL / Suzi DIGBY O.B.E. B Mus, Churchill Fellow

“The Voices Foundation is giving the nation back its voice.” - Hilary Finch, The Times


Susan Digby, also known as Lady Eatwell, is the Founder & Principal of The Voices Foundation, a leading national music education charity established in 1993. The Voices Foundation works in inner city and rural infant and primary schools throughout England and Wales with an innovative singing-based scheme involving every child and teacher in each school for at least one year. The Foundation aims to make a significant and lasting impact on music education in schools (transforming children and the ethos of schools) both in the UK and abroad. The profound and lasting effects of the Foundation's work have already been widely publicised. The programme has demonstrated how singing can be of unique benefit socially, emotionally and intellectually. Approximately 250,000 children have so far benefited from the scheme worldwide.

Suzi Digby works as one of The Voices Foundation's 20 advisory teachers, leading its education project in primary schools. She also runs the London centres of Young Voices, (currently in 6 national centres), an innovative after school musicianship programme for children from the Foundation's mainstream school projects and other sectors. In 1998 she launched 'Singing Schools', a 5-year programme in South Africa involving 70 schools in Soweto and Johannesburg. 200 African children's songs have been collected and integrated into the UK programme (currently the scheme uses up to 2,000 songs and singing games). She leads choral workshops internationally.

Suzi Digby read music at King's College, University of London, and studied piano and singing. She lived in Mexico, the Philippines and Hong Kong for 12 years where she presented her own TV Arts series and was a prolific radio broadcaster, teacher and performer. In 1990 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, which enabled her to travel to Finland, Hungary, Canada and the USA to study methods of choral training and music education as practised by their leading exponents. She has since trained with Péter Erdei, Head of Choral Studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. Her observations during her Churchill Fellowship travels, and particularly her experiences in Hungary, provided the inspiration for The Voices Foundation. The Foundation's methodology is based on that developed by the great Hungarian music educator, Zoltán Kodály over many years in Hungarian schools. In 2000 she became a council member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust as Chairman of the arts category, and she was also shortlisted for a Creative Britain Award. In 1993, Yehudi Menuhin appointed her to spearhead the UK branch of his MUS-E project.
 

Suzi Digby has worked internationally with children's and adult choirs for many years. She founded Voices, a professional chamber choir and has been musical director of Rosslyn Hill Chapel Choir (1996-1998) and the Middlesex Bach Choir (1998-2000). She was founder and musical director of the award winning, London based, adult chamber choir, Coro, before founding Voce in 2003. She was founding musical director of the infant programme of The Finchley Children's Music Group and co-founded Music Box, the Bristol based children's opera group. Her conducting work has seen her perform in some of London's most prestigious concert venues including The Royal Albert Hall, (Yehudi Menuhin's 80th birthday concert), St John's Smith Square, St James's Piccadilly and the Royal College of Music. Her highly acclaimed Voices Foundation Children's Choir is a multi-ethnic choir comprising children from throughout the UK. It has performed at State occasions including the VE Day Head of State ceremony and the first National Holocaust Memorial Day broadcast live on BBC 2, at major venues including the Dome, and has toured in Europe for Yehudi Menuhin. Abroad, she is guest conductor of St Stephen's Oratorio Choir, Budapest.  She regularly commissions work by leading composers.

Away from her teaching, Suzi Digby regularly gives lectures and presentations on all aspects of the choral world. In 1998, she presented a case study at the Salzburg Festival. Other presentations have been for the Music Masters and Mistresses Association, Association of British Choral Directors and Incorporated Society of Musicians. She is a trustee of The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Rodolfus Choir, Between the Notes and the Colvin Fire trust. She is also a governor of Oxford Gardens Primary School, the pilot school of The Voices Foundation’s programme and Adviser to the British Federation of Young Choirs.

Suzi Digby is in increasing demand for corporate team building workshops. Working with Arts.works, her clients include Marks & Spencer, Firmenich, Swedbank, Allen & Overy and BP. BP funded a trip to Colombia to focus on corporate workshops for its employees, from the oil workers to senior executives. Her work has been cited as one of the highly effective approaches available, particularly in areas of team building, active listening, personal development, presentation skills and confident communication. She has also worked regularly with radio and television in the UK giving interviews for Radio 3, Classic FM and has presented for BBC Wales TV including The Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

Suzi Digby regularly adjudicates at choral festivals and competitions, including the Coleraine Music Festival in Northern Ireland and Sainsbury Choir of the Year, televised by the BBC, for which she adjudicated both the semi-finals and the finals at the Royal Albert Hall in 2000.  Suzi recently judged the BBC primetime series, "Last Choir Standing".

Suzi Digby is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
She was awarded the O.B.E. in 2007 for services to music education

PLEASE CONTACT THE VOICES FOUNDATION FOR EDITING APPROVAL

T: 020 7730 6677 E: vf@voices.org.uk

Voce Chamber Choir.  Site designed by Harry Briggs with a bit of help from Bill Gates.  Last updated 19/08/2007