ABOUT THE TUTOR
Amy Bebbington is a highly experienced tutor of choral courses, and brings a fresh, dynamic and creative approach to choral leadership. She is a passionate advocate for choral singing and is in great demand as a workshop leader, choral clinician, animateur, adjudicator, mentor and teacher. With clear musical goals at the root of her work, Amy shares an infectious sense of enthusiasm, joy, camaradarie and good humour when engaging with amateur singers. She has appeared on the BBC2 programme “The Choir: Sing while you work” and is the Director of Training for the Association of British Choral Directors. Amy has adjudicated for festivals in the UK and Ireland, and is a published composer. She is currently the Musical Director for Corra Sound, Harlequin Chamber Choir and Nota Bene.

COURSE MUSIC
The music for the singing holiday will be decided closer to the date. However, to give you an idea of the style and range, you will find a list of the music performed during previous holidays at the end of this page.

Digital sheet music is provided a few weeks in advance of the holiday, giving everyone time to print it out, or download it to an iPad/tablet. We ask that singers bring their own music and black concert folder with them.

TRAVEL INFORMATION
By plane:
The closest airports are in Florence, Pisa and Bologna. From Florence airport you can take a tram directly to Florence’s central train station, Firenze Santa Maria Novella. From here, you can take a 25 minute intercity train to Figline Valdarno station, which is only a 10 minutes’ drive from us.
You can also fly into Pisa or Bologna. From Pisa airport, a tram will take you to Pisa’s central train station in 5 minutes, from where you can catch a train to Florence. At Bologna airport there is a shuttle bus to Bologna’s central train station, from where you can reach Florence in 40 minutes.

Car rental companies can be found in all the airports with typical drive times directly to us as follows:

Florence Airport (FLR): 50 minutes
Pisa Airport (PSA): 1 h 30 minutes
Bologna Airport (BLQ): 1 h 45 minutes

Complimentary transfers from Figline Valdarno train station are offered by Antico Borgo La Torre on the first and last day of the holiday. If you need to arrive or depart outside of the designated pick-up times, or if a transfer from a different location is required, private transfers can be arranged at extra cost.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BOOKING
To reserve your place on the singing holiday, please write an email to Federica:  info@anticoborgolatorre.it

A non-refundable deposit of €200 is due upon registration.
The remaining balance can be paid in full or in two instalments of 50% each, one by 31 March 2027 and the 2nd one by 31 May 2027.
For bookings made less than 12 weeks in advance of the start of the singing holiday, the full amount must be paid at the time of the booking.
In the unfortunate event that you need to cancel your booking for any personal reason (e.g. illness) claims should be pursued through your travel insurance policy.
If for any reason the singing holiday is cancelled by Antico Borgo La Torre, all payments made to us, including the booking fee, will be fully reimbursed to you. Please note that we only refund our own singing holiday fees, we do not refund the cost of travel or other third party costs.
For the comfort of all guests, smoking is not permitted inside the accommodation.

Please note that while we can accommodate diet restrictions (vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free) upon request, availability and variety may be limited. Please inform us of any dietary requirements when booking. We may not be able to accommodate severe, life-threatening allergies. 

The venue may also present some challenges for participants with limited mobility, as some rooms and the singing hall are accessible only by stairs, and moving between the different areas of the property involves some walking.

COURSE MUSIC (September 2026):

Skye Bridge Song, Baz Chapman SAB
I can see clearly, Jonny Nash
Towards Infinity, Paul Jarman
If ye love me, Thomas Tallis
Irish Blessing, Bob Chilcott
Music of Life, B. E. Boykin
An Echo of the Spheres, Amy Bebbington
Verleih uns Frienden, Felix Mendelssohn
The Gift to sing, Mark Jordan
A Clare Benediction, John Rutter
Cantique de Jean Racine, Gabriel Faure
Malakatumba

COURSE MUSIC (July 2025):

Blue Mountain River, Cara Dillon & Sam Lakeman
Come again, sweet love, John Dowland
Les fleurs et les arbres, Camille Saint Saens
Sylvie, trad. African
Swing Low, trad. Gospel, Arr. Peter Hunt
Let the river run, Carly Simon
Siyahamba, trad. African
Build me up Buttercup, arr. Emerson
Blessed be, Melanie de More
With a little help from my friends, Beatles

COURSE MUSIC (June 2024):

Sweet and low, Joseph Barnby
Halleluiah, Leonard Cohen
Flight Song, Kim Andre Arnesen
Adiemus, Karl Jenkins
Alleluia, William Boyce
One more time, Trad. Gospel
Bonse Aba, Trad. Zambia
Cantate Domino, Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni

COURSE MUSIC (June 2023):

All the way home – Sarah Quartel
Fly not so fast – John Ward
Sumer is icumen in – M S Harley
Super Trouper – Abba
The simple things – Fiona Lander
Though Philomela lost her love – Thomas Morley
Wellerman – trad. New Zealand sea shanty
Ave verum corpus – Mozart
Venga nel nostro coro – Salieri

INAUGURAL COURSE MUSIC (June 2022):

Ave Verum Corpus – William Byrd
Jesu Dulcis Memoria – Tomás Luis de Victoria
Oi Khodyt’ Son Kolo Vikon, Ukrainian lullaby – arr. Jake Alexander
Harbour – Anna Tabbush
Fields of gold – Sting, arr. Wendy Sargeant
Here comes the sun – The Beatles, arr. Craig McLeish
Weeping – from Songs of a Rainbow Nation, arr. Alexander L’Estrange
La, la, la, je ne l’ose dire – Pierre Certon
Tourdion – arr. Pierre Attaingnant