Meet the TEAM
Our Dementia Choir would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our crew. Find out more about them below.
Mark De-Lisser
Mark De-Lisser is one of the most sought after choral directors, vocal coaches and arrangers in the industry. Having studied at both Colchester Institute and Central School of Speech and Drama, where he earned a Masters in Voice Studies, Mark went on to teach at many established institutions including The Brit School, University of Westminster and the Academy of Contemporary Music.
Although some may know him for his work as a vocal coach on many BBC TV programmes such as The Voice, Let it Shine, Pitch Battle, This is My Song, All Together Now, Eurovision Song Contest and the Masked Singer to name but a few, Mark is perhaps best known for his work with choirs. He is the proud musical director of the award-winning ACM Gospel Choir whom he founded back in 2005, as well as being the founder of Singology Choirs - a vision he first began way back in 2004.
Mark's arrangements are sung the world over, and his unique published series SING OUT! has become the go to for choral directors and singers in search of the best modern popular choral arrangements. There are currently nine books in the series, all containing individual audio parts for each vocal section as well as sheet music for all the carefully selected songs. In 2018 Mark was asked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to arrange Stand By Me for their wedding in May of that year, giving him the ‘Royal’ stamp of approval,
Mark’s first co-authored book Inspire Your Choir, is published by Bloomsbury. The book followed Mark’s first appearance alongside Gareth Malone on the BBC’s The Naked Choir. Mark again featured as a leading choral mentor alongside Gareth in 2016’s The Choir.
For more on Mark visit: www.markdelisser.com Twitter: @MarkDelisser
DANIELA SMITH
Daniela is the Assistant Musical Director for Our Dementia Choir. Daniela enjoys performing and teaching in the Nottinghamshire area. She has held the Vocal Lead post for the Inspire-led Nottinghamshire Music Hub for many years and helps shape the vocal provision across the county. She enjoys working with many partners including the National Choirs of Great Britain and the Hallé Orchestra. Inspire is proud to have Daniela coaching within Our Dementia Choir.
Daniela loves working with the Our Dementia Choir family and seeing the emotional, uplifting effect music has each time they are together.