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Helen studied the piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in the US. She graduated from the University of Birmingham and has many years' experience as an accompanist and ensemble player, coach and teacher. She first worked in the theatre on the musical The Hired Man (Howard Goodall/Melvyn Bragg)
Theatre credits as Musical Director include: The Snow Queen, Tom Jones, The Brewery Beano, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Our Day Out (Derby Playhouse); Amid The Standing Corn (Joint Stock); Claw (Theatr Clwyd); Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Suicide (National Youth Theatre); Mummy's Boy, Little Shop of Horrors, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Theatre in Trust); Fiddler On The Roof (conducting German tours); The Red Balloon (Bristol Old Vic); Company (Northcott, Exeter); The Pied Piper (Birmingham Rep.); Candide (Liverpool Everyman and Tour); The Hired Man (Theatre-by-the-Lake, Keswick); Godspell (working with David Essex in Africa on behalf of VSO with a cast of Ugandan students); Cabaret (Octagon Theatre, Bolton), Square Rounds, Trelawny of The Wells, The Skriker, The Way of the World and Richard II (Royal National Theatre).
She has taught choral singing and song interpretation to adults and children, both professional and amateur, in a wide variety of educational projects, in schools, colleges and summer schools. Currently she coaches actors at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and at Fourth Monkey in London.
(last updated 2015)
Helen Ireland was a summer school tutor in: 1993 1996 1997 1998 2003 2015 2016