Craig Lees

Craig is a contemporary vocal coach, choral leader and arranger. He is a Principal Lecturer on the Popular Music Degree at Leeds Conservatoire, where he founded their Contemporary Pop Choir in 2014. In 2017, he was the Musical Director behind Leeds Contemporary Singers, a nine-piece vocal harmony group that rose to fame as the winners of BBC One’s Pitch Battle television show. Craig was a Director of the British Voice Association for 4 years (2015 – 2019), after which he was elected as President from 2019 – 2021, making him the only president ever to be re-elected to the position on consecutive years. He is also the director of The Workplace Choir company international, who offer choral workshops and experiences to companies worldwide. As a vocal coach Craig has a thriving private practice, with clients appearing on The Voice UK, The X factor and many more. In 2018 he was also a regional coach for ITV1’s “Change Your Tune”. As a choral director and workshop leader Craig has presented internationally on the topic of choral pedagogy and has delivered choral workshops throughout the UK and abroad. Together with his choirs Craig has performed at numerous prestigious venues and events, including The Royal Festival Hall (London, 2016), MIPCOM (Cannes, 2017) and Children In Need (Wembley Arena, 2018). Craig has delivered projects for the John Lewis Partnership and Leeds Playhouse and is a regular facilitator on the Performance Academy Program at ‘Mind The Gap Theatre Company’ (England’s largest learning-disability theatre house). He has also delivered projects for leading voice technology manufacturer TC-Helicon. Craig has also had the pleasure of working with chart-topping artist Will Young (whilst on Pitch Battle) and internationally acclaimed artist Marc Almond. Craig has a developing international profile and has delivered workshops / presentations at numerous conferences and events across the world. These have included (but are not limited to) the Pan-European Voice Conference (Italy, 2015), The International Conference of Voice Teachers (Stockholm, 2017), Gospel Rising Festival (Ireland 2018 & 2019) and the Hamburg Voice Symposium (Germany 2016 & 2022). Concurrently, in September 2021 Craig organised and chaired a three-day international, online, multi-disciplinary voice conference called ‘Choice For Voice’, which featured Keynote presentations from many of the top professionals in the world of voice. The event was attended by over 300 delegates from over 15 different countries worldwide, including the USA, Australia, China, Japan and across Europe.