The Onion:
Shameless Singing
A three-hour private workshop. Six people. One room. London.
It works with the layer technique alone can't reach — the body, the breath, and the freedom waiting underneath.
This is not a masterclass. No one in this room is assessing, comparing, or evaluating. The Singer State — free, full, instinctive expression — does not arrive through the pursuit of perfection. It arrives when that pursuit is set down. The Onion creates the conditions for that to happen.
Led by tenor Luis Chapa — Metropolitan Opera, thirty years at the highest levels of operatic performance — the session works directly with breath, voice, and the somatic tools that move a singer toward that freedom.
For the singer at the threshold — conservatoire, post-conservatoire, or self-formed — who is not yet in the profession.
- Dates
- July 3, 10, and 17, 2026
- Format
- Two sessions per day
- Capacity
- Six singers per session
- Location
- Private studio, London
- Investment
- £120 per session
Luis Chapa
Luis Chapa has sung at the Metropolitan Opera House and the greatest houses of Europe and the Americas, in roles such as Otello, Samson, Aïda, and Calaf — thirty years at the level where the margin between training and full expression is measured not in technique, but in freedom.
At the piano throughout
Kelvin Lim — conductor, vocal coach and pianist, respected across the UK's major houses, from Royal Ballet and Opera and English National Opera to Welsh National Opera, with a particular authority in the dramatic operatic repertoire. He coaches at Trinity Laban and the Guildhall School and musical and artistic director of Opera Forge.
From the 2025 Workshop
I found the work that we did on my aria to be transformative. It was especially helpful to involve the others directly in my performance, like one would in a scene. The Onion has reminded me how invaluable this work is and helped me realise my excitement for what’s to come.
Alice Howell, 2025
The workshop wonderfully combined deep focus and awakening the body, mind, breath, and voice as a fully functioning interconnected whole. It was led in an extremely supportive, relaxed and judgement-free way — and allowed all the singers to go into vulnerable places and share freely the passion and love for singing with each other.
Miriam Miskovska, 2025
I enjoyed the singing workshop — a different and refreshing stance from what I've seen before, especially after the outdoor session. The size of the group enabled us to get a lot out of it, for ourselves and from observing others. I can't think of anything in the session that could have gone better.
Ellie Ninham, 2025