About
Internationally recognized as one of the foremost vocal coaches and trouble-shooters in his field, Paul Farrington is in demand worldwide.
Paul who has specialized for over 40 years in teaching and coaching the solo voice, is leading masterclasses, courses and workshops throughout Europe, Asia & Australasia.
Paul has been Vocal Health & Technique Consultant at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for over 20 years, and will return as Vocal Consultant to Opera Studio and Company Principals of The New National Theatre Tokyo in 2022. He continues his role as Principal vocal coach at Göteborgs Operan and coaches the Principal artists of both the Opera and Musical Theatre Companies, and during his 20-year association with the Operan has coached on every major production to open in the house.
Throughout the pandemic Paul continued to work online with singers from all over the world from his studio at home. In July 2020 he launched ‘Paul Farrington Voiceworks’, which this year saw the successful third edition with both Masterclass and the course for Singing Teachers and Professional Voice Users taking place in London for the first time after two years of online presence.
In 2020 and 2021 he also gave two very successful online Masterclasses for the Bernstein School of Musical Theatre. Together with his colleague Declan Costello he created and presented the workshop ‘The Voice in Lockdown’ designed to guide singers suffering from vocal problems as a result of stress, and offered strategies for both the physical and psychological impact of the pandemic.
In March 2014 Paul was appointed as Full Professor of Opera & Vocal Pedagogy at the Norwegian National Academy of the Arts in Oslo alongside coaching at the Norsk Opera. He has been Vocal Health & Technique Consultant at the New National Theatre Tokyo for over 12 years, and is the vocal coach to some of the world’s foremost opera and concert performers. Paul has taught at the Royal Academy of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Royal Welsh Conservatoire and was visiting Professor of Singing at the Opera Academy of Stockholm for many years. He has been invited to lecture to the British Voice Association, and National Association of Laryngologists in the UK, and to a number of singing teachers associations in Europe, and was also invited on a number of occasions by world renowned voice scientist Johan Sundberg to present at Voice science events at Tekniska Högskolan Stockholm.
Paul was vocal coach and music consultant to the cast of several outstanding movies and TV productions including ‘Quartet’ directed by Dustin Hoffman, the Oscar nominated ‘The Theory of Everything’ and more recently he was the Opera coach and advisor for the Netflix blockbusters Bridgerton and The Crown season 3 and 4 as well as working on the SKY movie A Town called Malice.
He trained and studied with Jo Estill and is one of only 11 people in the world to be licensed as a ‘Vanguard’ by Jo herself. Awarded in recognition as a pioneer presenter of Jo’s work.
Paul is also uniquely qualified as a Specialist Vocal Coach, having been for over 20 years a Clinical Vocal Consultant at University Hospital Birmingham, and is currently associated with the foremost London Voice Clinic practice, specializing in developing and remediating professional voice users of all kinds.
Paul studied Voice and Piano at the Birmingham School of Music and after graduating he sang for many years as a Recital and Oratorio soloist as well as being a member of Birmingham Opera touring the UK. He combined performing, with working as both stage and musical director at Guildford School of Acting and Birmingham School of Acting.
“Paul has been my teacher for several years now. Over the years he has been a constant font of knowledge and support, especially when I was experiencing some vocal changes and difficulties a couple of years back. Lessons with Paul are always the perfect balance of fun and exploration, and I love that we really get stuck in every time I see him. Not only is he incredibly knowledgable about the physiological side of singing well and efficiently, but he is also sensitive to what it means to be a professional singer. The stresses and strains that come with that and have an impact on our instrument. The feeling I’m always left with having seen Paul is that for the time we’re working together I’m his sole focus. This quality is rare, and I think that’s what makes Paul such an extraordinary teacher. He’s so generous with his knowledge and time, and I am forever grateful that he’s in my life.”
JENNIFER DAVIS, SOPRANO
