About us...
Katie Grosset
Katie Grosset is a Mezzo soprano from Edinburgh. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Operastudio Vlaanderen and the National Opera Studio in London after her initial Bachelors of Music degree at Glasgow University. Katie is a former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist.
Throughout her Opera career Katie has performed for companies including Scottish Opera, English Touring Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Garsington Opera, The National Gilbert and Sullivan Company, Byre Opera and Opera Bohemia. Well known roles include the title role in Xerxes (Handel), Romeo in I Capuleti E I Montecchi (Bellini), both the title role and Mercedes in Carmen (Bizet), Second Lady in Magic Flute (Mozart), Olga in Eugene Onegin. Katie specialises in contemporary opera performance, and has performed several pieces for the Tête à Tête Opera Festival for composers including Errolyn Wallen and Charlotte Bray. Katie also created the roles of Mother Vixen in Fox Tot and Mezzo Voice in The 8th door, both by Lliam Paterson and premiered with Scottish Opera.
Katie's concert work includes Verdi Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria and Handel Messiah with Dundee Choral Union and the orchestra of Scottish Opera,Carmen at the Royal Festival Hall, Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, soloist in Stravinsky Les Noces touring across France, Haydn Nelson Mass, Mozart Requiem, Mozart Solemn Vespers, Bach St John Passion, and Bach Christmas Oratorio. Acting credits include an appearance as ‘Nurse Wallace’ in Iain Burnside’s Radio 3 Drama A Soldier and a Maker.
Katie has worked extensively in singing and music education and outreach throughout her career as a singer. Katie is trained in Kodaly methodology and has been a music specialist leading classes for babies, infants and young people for 18 years. She has worked for the National Youth Choir of Scotland, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, Colourstrings, The English Touring Opera Education Department and the Scottish Opera Education Department. During the pandemic, Katie rewrote and adjusted the curriculum for Youth Music Initiative and Edinburgh City Council's Magic of Music Programme and taught its delivery to instructors across the city and keep children singing across Edinburgh's primary school sector. Whilst on Fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Katie ran Kodaly based workshops for children and parents at the Junior Guildhall allowing parents to gain an insight and an understanding into the values of creative practice and unconscious learning through singing games and fun.
Katie has a firm belief that singing and music should be enjoyed by everyone, and that classical music should be an artform that is accessible and approachable for all people of all ages. The ability to express through singing and musical means is vital to a child's development, and the more parents and carers can be encouraged to come away from a performance and make music at home the better. Collaborating with Colleen in the creation of Singing and Rainbows has been an incredible way to demonstrate, share and implement these beliefs.
Colleen Nicoll
Soprano Colleen Nicoll completed a Masters in Vocal Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with distinction and combines combines a successful career as a professional soprano with work as an animator and choral conductor.
She has performed roles in numerous operatic productions including the title role in Handel’s Semele, Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Britten), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro – Mozart), Diana (Actéon- Charpentier), Yum Yum (The Mikado – Gilbert and Sullivan), Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore – Donizetti), Lady Dunmow (A Dinner Engagement – Lenox Berkeley), Galatea (Acis and Galatea - Handel), Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute - Mozart).
In 2022 Colleen performed the role of Seal Sister in the Scottish premier of Granville Bantok’s The Seal Woman with the Scots Opera Project and is looking forward to touring the production this year.
Colleen has a busy concert diary working in the UK and abroad and has recently recorded an album of Scottish classical art song with pianist Andrew Johnston - 'Wi A Canny Lilt’.
Colleen has completed outreach and education training with The Royal Opera House and English National Opera and works as a workshop leader and performer with Scottish Opera. She also conducts Pitlochry and District Choral Society and works alongside the Birnam Arts providing outreach and educational projects in the Perthshire community.
About Our Interactive Show...
Singing and Rainbows is run and performed by Colleen Nicol (Soprano) and Katie Grosset (Mezzo Soprano). The show is a carefully structured interactive musical experience for infants to enjoy with a carer. We incorporate songs, arias and duets from the classical repertoire and make them easily accessible for our audience. We also build in well known singing games and rhymes so everyone can be involved somewhere! There are elements of the show where the audience can sing and dance along, meet some puppet friends, and discover and explore new music, lights, textures and sounds together.
We are both Music Specialists and Opera Singers, with vast experience in music education and outreach.
We had our first babies in lockdown. When we met to perform a concert together at Pitlochry Festival, we saw the elderley, the very young and everyone in between come together to experience live classical music after 2 years without live performance. We found it incredibly moving. The informality of the performance allowed everyone to interact with us throughout the show. Parents and grandparents commented on how magical it was to be able to bring their infants to see live classical singing without worry of disturbing anyone around them. The chaos and the joy around us was audible and inspiring.
We have both run our own infant music classes, and performed regularly as classical soloists. Now mothers, we have at times had no choice but to play all 3 of these roles of ours at once. This proved to be an amazing thing to be able to do.
Interactive Show housekeeping...
We will always make sure there is somewhere to park prams either in or beside the performance space.
We will always make sure baby change facilities are nearby.
If you need to leave the space to do a change, or if you need to cuddle up for a feed without leaving the space, go for it!
We ask that one adult accompany their child attendee in the show space with us and remaining adults take a seat to observe. Adults should feel free to swap places during the performance if desired!
Babies are welcome to chat and make as much noise as they like- we love their enthusiasm! We do however ask that grown ups keep chat to a minimum…
Please refrain from any kind of photography until after the show when there will be a photo opportunity.
Please refrain from bringing hot drinks into the performance space.
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About our Community Concerts...
We now ALSO perform community concerts. These are sit-down concerts for an all inclusive audience and involve a slightly more standard setting than our interactive infant shows. We are on the stage, and there are lots of tickets available to the show at a very affordable price. We perform a mix of opera, musicals, movie hits and pops. There is something for everyone to enjoy! From time to time there is optional audience participation, and depending on what’s going on in your community, we can involve youth groups or singing/ dancing groups (or sewing groups or chess clubs…you get the idea) if they’d like to take part. We are also quite happy to perform ourselves if the community wish to be audience only! We can tailor shows to fit in with your community. We rehearse any extra participants in advance by whatever means suits, and we aim for everyone joining us to have a fantastic and memorable time on stage. Shows have a relaxed vibe and last an hour with a short comfort break in the middle. If you’d like us to come to you and perform a community concert, don’t hesitate to get in touch!