Anne-Michel Durham
Anne-Michel (Michel) Durham was born in Quebec, Canada, and was raised between Michigan in the United States and Northern Ontario Canada. Her love of music and harmony was fostered from an early age when she was fortunate enough to take part in her public school's music programme featuring a full coupling of choral, band, and orchestra studies.
In secondary school, Michel's family relocated to Manitoulin Island, in remote Northern Ontario, Canada. Music as a course was not offered at her school but she continued to learn and study instruments and to compose on her own. After Secondary School, she auditioned for colleges in the Greater Toronto Region and was accepted to a course in Music Theatre where she studied acting, dance, and voice for a year.
Although she enjoyed the discipline of dance and the creativity of acting, Michel wanted to focus more on her strength as a vocalist. Following her heart, she made the dramatic decision to move to Arizona in the Southwest of the United States and pursue Vocal Studies. She attended Yavapai College, where in addition to her studies, Michel toured and sang with the Chamber Choir the music department's premiere ensemble made up of a select group of singers who acted as ambassadors for the college.
After graduation from Yavapai College, Michel transferred to the University of Arizona where she continued her studies in Vocal Music Education. At UofA she studied voice, voice education, and choral conducting as part of her degree and attained academic distinction in her studies. Michel was fortunate in her timing at the University of Arizona as she was able to study with remarkable teachers such as Orff Schulwerk master Nancy Ferguson, Voice Teacher and Vocal Pedagogue Dr. Larry Day, and the acclaimed choral conductor Maurice H. Skones.
In 2000, shortly after graduation, Michel moved to Ireland. She quickly decided to settle in Galway and set up her now highly successful Durham Voice Studio (www.durhamvoicestudio.ie) a center for excellence in vocal training.
In 2004 Michel became a Member of the Board of Directors of the national award winning Access Music Project, Galway where she teaches Vocal Performance. In her highly popular course she has helped a multitude of Galway musicians and singers to discover the potential in their voice. (www.accessmusicproject.ie)
Michel has worked along side of Gerry Mulkerrins in organizing and planning Galway's Multi-Cultural event, the annual Spirit of Voice Festival. The festival, which began as a one day event has now grown to almost a week long annual festival of vocal performances, workshops and events. (www.spiritofvoice.com)