In this remarkable workshop, Danish conductor Peter Hanke offers you the chance to explore the art of communication via the experience of conducting a choir.

Conductors have to express themselves bodily, communicating with the singers only through gesture and movement, so the act of conducting provides a medium through which to observe oneself.  How we express ourselves in this unfamiliar situation, untainted by rational thoughts, knowledge or words reveals insights about aspects of our selves and how we communicate that are hard to come by with conventional methods.  

No knowledge of music is required, indeed this workshop, which has been delivered over a hundred times for executives at Business Schools and companies around the world, has been developed specifically for people with no musical knowledge or understanding. Everyone who comes along will get the chance to conduct.

The aim is to use the arts to learn about ourselves, not to learn about music per se.   It is relevant for anyone interesting in communication and personal growth and leaders from any walk of life.

For more information contact:  Robert Poynton, rob@oyf.com, Peter Hanke, ph@exart.dk.

Peter Hanke

Peter Hanke has made his career as a conductor, specialised in contemporary choral music and chamber opera with the ensembles Voces Copenhagen, Contemporary Opera Denmark and choirmaster in the Danish Radio Choir among others.

He is the founder of Exart Performances, whose focus is to communicate the experience, knowledge and techniques of performing arts in a leadership context and he has led workshops and spoken at conferences all over Europe.  In 2003 he was appointed as Artistic Director for the Centre for Art & Leadership at Copenhagen Business School.  This research centre focus on the aesthetic forces of the Arts to develop the idea of inspirational, modern leadership.  Peter is also an Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School, Oxford University, Artistic Director for Bramstrup Performing Arts and a Member of the European Cultural Parliament.  (see http://peterhanke.com/).

Musica Beata

Musica Beata is a Midlands based chamber choir, whose singers are either professional or semi-professional (see http://www.beata.org.uk/).   Many of the members are past choral scholars of various Oxford colleges, and the group prides itself on a wide-ranging repertoire, performed to a very high standard, alongside a willingness to accept any sort of musical opportunity that comes along.

That includes working regularly with Peter Hanke in workshops that use the concept of choral conducting as an analogue for business leadership as part of the Strategic Leadership Programme at the Said Business School in Oxford.  Experience confirms that the voices of Musica Beata sound beautiful, however they are being conducted…

Robert Poynton

Robert Poynton teaches alongside Peter Hanke at the Said Business School on various leadership programmes using techniques from another performing art – improvisational theatre (www.oyf.com).     He is helping to organise this workshop and may offer a few exercises to get people warmed up to the job of conducting.