Music & Wellbeing

Above: Mind & Soul singing in John Browne’s A Nightingale Sang at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

The choir premiered Jocelyn Pook’s Anxiety Fanfare at the Wigmore Hall, and took their important work into a variety of mental health community settings.

Lea is one of the few choir leaders to have set up a choir with patients at one of England’s three high secure psychiatric hospitals, in this case, Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Right: Anxiety Fanfare at Wigmore Hall. The full BBC Health check feature can be seen here.

mind & soul choir

The Mind & Soul choir was formed in 2006 to promote mental wellbeing through singing and to reduce the stigma around mental illness by Lea and colleagues at the Maudsley Hospital. In his 12 years as MD, the choir performed in many well known venues, such as the Royal Opera House, the V&A, The South Bank Centre and many others. Hundreds of people have been supported with uplifting, joyful experiences in that time.

ENO BREATHE

Lea is senior session leader of ENO Breathe, a breathing and wellbeing programme developed with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to help people suffering from some of the effects of long Covid using techniques drawn from singing. More details can be found here. ENO Breathe won the Royal Philharmonic Society Impact Award 2021.

Right: With Suzi Zumpe in a report about ENO Breathe in the Daily Telegraph.

Hospital passion play

A developing collaboration between Garsington Opera, Rosetta Life and Orlando Gough, Hospital Passion Play tells the stories of stroke survivors through opera and music. The work has taken us into stroke wards, spinal injuries units and other community settings. Lea conducted the version below, given at the V&A with stroke survivors, members of the Shout at Cancer Choir, patients at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville, Garsington Opera Adult Community Company & soloists. The final version was given at Garsington Opera at Wormsley in July 2021, which Lea also conducted.

other work

He has also worked with people affected by homelessness, including with Streetwise Opera in Gateshead, Opera North in Leeds, ENO in London and Choir With No Name in Brighton.