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About Us
Our Story
Indie Choir started in 2011 in Cork City on Tuesday nights with only a handful of singers, as a part of Voiceworks Studio (a singing school). We had the privilege of singing with Damien Rice in the early days! Covid came and rehearsals stopped. We started back in 2021 with a new choir leader, and the rest is history! The choir just took off. We had so many members that we started a new night of choir on Thursdays, then added Monday night, and here we are now expanding to other Cork towns.
Choir leaders Alison Ronayne and Nikki Griffin absolutely love harmonies, but even more than that, love to see the community that the choir has created of badass women singing together. The choir has become a huge source of joy in many peoples lives.
Meet The Team
Singer, Vocal Coach and Choir Conductor, Alison is the co-owner of Voiceworks Studio. Alison graduated from the MTU Cork School of Music with a first-class honours BA in Popular Music, specialising in voice. As a singing teacher with over 10 years of experience, Alison is passionate about helping each student to learn how to master their voice while having some fun along the way. Having completed many singing teacher training courses (including completing the B.A.S.T course twice) and studying with several renowned voice experts including Dr. Trish Rooney, Gemma Sugrue, Laoise Leahy, Aine Whelan, Ian Davidson, Kaya Herstad Carney and more, Alison loves to use evidence based vocal exercises in her lessons and to give each student the knowledge of what each exercise does for the voice. Alison has sang all over Ireland as a session singer, at festivals such as Electric Picnic and on stages such as The Everyman Theatre Cork, The Cork Opera House Stage and Cyprus Avenue in Cork and The National Concert Hall in Dublin. A lover of backing vocals, Alison has had the privilege to sing with artists such as The Staves, Ben Howard, Angie MacMahon, Leif Vollebekk, David Kitt, Efterklang, Laoise Leahy and more… And as part of a backing choir she has even made an appearance on RTE on several shows such as Daniel O Donnell’s Christmas Special and The Voice of Ireland. Alongside her passion for vocal coaching, Alison conducts the Voiceworks Indie Choir which has over 100 singers. Her passion for harmonies is infectious and in 2025 Alison had the pleasure of conducting the choir at the National Concert Hall in Dublin as support act for Eimear Creahan’s show.
Nikki Griffin is co-owner of Voiceworks Studio, a celebrated jazz singer, and one of the conductors of the Indie Choir. She is a graduate of the Cork School of Music where she received a first class honours in both her Masters in Vocal Performance, and her Bachelor in Music. Nikki founded the Teen Indie Choir with Alison Ronayne in 2023, and has conducted the choir through performances such as the esteemed Cork Opera House stage. Nikki's passion for teaching comes from unlocking creativity in budding singers and music lovers, believing solely that emotional release in music is the key to creating community and dynamic and moving musical performances. She has released music alongside her musical accomplice Sam Barker, including an original music EP 'Girl & the Moon' available on all streaming platforms, as well as the very recent album 'In Her Own Words', a collective of music in the jazz repertoire written by women pre-1960, and will be headlining an upcoming concert with the Jazz Co-Op Ireland in Dublin's famous Cobblestone venue in June. Outside of her work as a singer and conductor, Nikki has also worked as a backing vocalist alongside artists such as Bon Iver, Damien Rice, Laoise Leahy, Aine Whelan, and has worked alongside as a support artist for Finbar Wright on an Irish tour, as well as Cormac McCarthy and the Cork School of Music Big Band in stages across Ireland, stretching as far as New York. Outside of her passions for music; Nikki is a true creative and enjoys reading, writing, painting, and anything she can tap into artistry!
Our Values & Mission Statement
Community
We aim to build a safe and joyful community of open minded women who LOVE to sing, and who value playfulness, teamwork and learning. We want to connect singers to other like minded women, to themselves and to their voice. If you’re passionate about singing, accessing joy and learning along the way, we hope you’ll feel at home in our choir.
Mission Statement
We aim to create a joyful safe space where women are inspired to connect, to be playful and to learn.
Playfullness
To access music in a fun, joyful and playful way. To learn to see the joy in music and singing. To learn to laugh at our mistakes. As adults, to learn to reconnect to our playfulness. To be a bit silly-er leaving choir than you were when you first arrived. To learn the importance of playfulness in adulthood and have a weekly space to access it.
Education
We aim to educate about the voice, harmonies, music theory, performing, emotional expression, team work and wellbeing. We want choir members to be able to take new knowledge away and feel they are gaining new insights from being a choir member. We want members to feel safe enough to make mistakes - as mistakes are the best way to learn. For more specific learning outcomes, check out our website.
Teamwork
Becoming part of something bigger than just ourselves. Like how our harmonies interact with each other and how we each play a part. That each individual is important and serves a purpose. Enjoying a balance of individual work, and teamwork (homework vs classwork). Seeing both individual and group improvements. Listening as a group. Blending. Synchronising. Experiencing the magic of coming together as a team. Having honest and open discussions as a group - whether that’s about song meaning, learning words or improving attendance. Finding the value in teamwork in a world that can feel so isolating.
Kindness
We have a phrase that we’re all ‘a bunch of legends’. Being kind is extremely important to us in Indie Choir in all interactions. From sign up, to rehearsals and performances, we lead with kindness and love seeing all choir members showing the same kindness to everyone on the team. As legends do ;)
Learning Outcomes
There's more to choir than friends and fun - you'll learn a lot about music along the way. Although each rehearsal is light hearted and full of laughter, we promise we're committed to educating you along the way. Below are the 6 main learning outcomes that we aim to teach throughout your Indie Choir journey.
VOCAL TECHNIQUE
CONDUCTING CUES
AURAL DEVELOPMENT
RHYTHM
SIGHT READING
PERFORMANCE SKILLS