Date: 2025/07/26 to 2025/07/26 (YYYY/MM/DD) Time: 08:30 - 16:00 (CDT; UTC/GMT -5 hours) Cost: $150 (trainers), $199 (general public) Language: English Special Topic: Vocal Ensembles Prerequisites: None
Instructors: Brian Winnie
Contact: Brian Winnie | artisticdirector@wovoice.org |
Course Location:
InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile
505 N Michigan Ave
Chicago Illinois
United States
Notes from your Trainer
Cost: Your seat in this course is not secure until registration with EVI (use Register button above) and the course tuition payment to Brian Winnie are complete. Course tuition is payable directly to Brian Winnie via this payment link after registration is complete.
Earlybird Tuition until February 1, 2025: $100.00 USD
Estill Trainer Tuition after February 1, 2025: $150.00 USD
General Public Tuition after February 1, 2025: $199.00 USD
Resources:
There is no EVT resource fee associated with this course.
There is an option to purchase Estill Voiceprint Plus (spectrogram analysis program for MAC & PC) and Foundations of Estill Voice Training (self-directed online course in the Estill Voice Online Academy) at special discounted prices to enhance your course experience with a deeper dive into Estill Voice Training. Participants are encouraged to install Voiceprint and complete Foundations before attending Estill Strategies to Empower Ensembles on July 26.
Course Description
Estill Strategies to Empower Ensembles
Session Topics will include:
- Empowering Experiences: Estill in Action Group-Sing
- Empowering Teaching: Identifying Vocal Options in the Score
- Empowering Independence: Technique Time in Rehearsals
- Empowering Confidence: Individual Modeling in the Group Setting
- Empowering Application: Common Goals/Challenges in the Rehearsal
Schedule: (all times in CDT; UTC/GMT -5 hours)
8:30 Registration
9:00 Sessions 1 - 4
12:30 Lunch Break
1:45 Sessions 5 - 6
4:00 End
About your Instructors:
Dr. Brian J. Winnie, EMCI-TP, and Director of Choral Studies at Western Illinois University where he supervises the graduate choral conducting program, conducts multiple choral ensembles, and teaches courses in choral pedagogy, conducting, and choral literature. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of withonevoice, a professional, non-profit vocal ensemble based in Chicago whose mission is to cultivate new commissioned repertoire and provide educational workshops and performance experiences that empower vocal versatility and authenticity.
Dr. Winnie’s choirs have performed at various ACDA and state conferences in the US, and the Western Illinois University Singers were recognized with the American Prize in Choral Performance (2021). He is a frequent guest conductor of All-State and regional festivals, and he has over a decade of experience researching and integrating evidence-based principles of voice science, using the Estill Voice Model, into choral pedagogy and curriculum in public school and higher education. Also an active scholar, Dr. Winnie has given numerous international workshops and presentations and has published a variety of articles on these topics. In addition, he is the editor and contributing author of two vocal and choral books. Learn more at www.brianwinnie.com and www.wovoice.org.
Course Assistants: Nicholas Miguel, D.M.A. and Rachel Carreras
Dr. Nicholas Miguel, EMT, is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL where he teaches classical and musical theater voice. He is an active baritone soloist and chorister, having created a reputation as a versatile and intelligent singer in diverse genres. A regular soloist in the Midwest, Miguel’s concert appearances include Ralph Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, Craig Hella Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard, J.S. Bach’s BWV 129, 131, 34, 18, 172, 82, 4, 140, 74, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Theresienmesse, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C minor, Durufle’s Requiem, Pärt’s Passio, Handel's Esther and Messiah, and Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers. He currently sings with the professional choir GRAMMY-nominated True Concord in Tucson, AZ and the new Chicago-based professional choir withonevoice.
Dr. Miguel served as an award-winning Teaching Assistant for the renowned vocologist, Ingo Titze, and he is also a composer/arranger of art song, choral music, and jazz; an amateur piano accompanist, and a dilettante jazz pianist. Learn more at www.nicholasmiguel.com.
Rachel Carreras has achieved notoriety in musical theatre, jazz, and pop music styles with recent residencies in Michigan and Illinois theatre companies as well as special performances and cabarets around the Chicagoland area. Equally comfortable in the recording studio, Rachel regularly records with award-winning Broadway composers who have described her as "an extremely versatile vocal powerhouse....[who] brings an infectious positivity to her work that makes collaborating with her a delight." Directors have noted Rachel’s unparalleled preparedness and commitment to the process, which has made her a sought-after performer, clinician, and collaborator.
Hailed as “powerful” and “transformational” on stage, Rachel has demonstrated the strength and maturity to perform a passionate Aldonza (Man of la Mancha) and the sensitivity to deliver a stirring Wendla (Spring Awakening) in the same season. Having toured the world with various choral groups before studying opera in Vienna, her passion for voice has been at the crossroads of choral and solo repertoire for almost 20 years. Learn more at www.rachelcarreras.com.
Certificate of Attendance:
A Certificate of Attendance will be issued upon completion of this course. This certificate is not a requirement for Trainer Certification in Estill Voice Training®.
Cancellation & Refund Policies:
Cancellation policies are at the discretion of the course instructor. Tuition refunds or course credit may or may not apply. Contact the course instructor for more information.
Estill Voiceprint Plus and Foundations of Estill Voice Training are non-returnable/non-refundable. Contact info@estillvoice.com within 24 hours of registration if a purchase was made in error.
Stay and join the EVT Community!
Participants are invited to attend the 12th Estill World Voice Symposium July 27-29, 2025. View symposium details to register and contact info@estillvoice.com with questions. Presentation abstracts are accepted until January 5.
*Estill Voice Training®, and its parent company Estill Voice International, LLC, has neither an aesthetic nor gender bias and stands for the strengthening of cultural diversity, plurality and inclusion.