About us

A. We are doing research to find out:

How many classical singers do in fact give self-accompanied recitals today, to bring together such people and foster self-accompaniment as a revived professional practice. We also want to investigate how it feels to self-accompany and how it compares with being accompanied by a collaborative pianist. Today there are a few established professional singers, including Paula Bärr-Giese, Rachel Fenlon, and Elizabeth Pearse, among a very small number of others who we are currently in touch with.

-Our research is also to investigate the personal and professional views and opinions on self-accompanied singing among a range of other singers. What do classical singers think about this whole thing? Does it matter? How much do they, or don't they, use an instrument when they're practicing; and if so, how do they use it? Would teachers be prepared to work on a self-accompanied performance with one of their students if asked? Why or why not? Would students dare to ask their teacher? How many of the singers have ever in fact given a self-accompanied performance? Was it online perhaps, during Covid? And what would they think about the idea of doing one?

B. The aim of this website is to report periodically on our research findings; and to bring together singers who wish to share their passion for the practice of self-accompanied singing in the UK, and beyond, by:

* organising self-accompanied recital programmes here in the UK where we are based;
* creating a listing where details of self-accompanied recitals can be found in any part of the world, and;
* coordinating a larger recital or short series of related recitals combined with presentations of the project's findings, at the end of the project. This is likely to be in 2026 - details will follow.

Get in touch

If you have any queries for us, or wish to get involved in this research or to have your self-accompanied singing recital added to our listing, please do get in touch with us by contact form or email to the Communications and Events Officer. 

There are many exciting issues to explore; and we have been getting some fascinating responses from the 100 singers who kindly answered our online questionnaire. (The questionnaire is now closed but we'd still love to hear from you via any other means if you'd like to get in touch!)