Sing to Thrive
Sing to Thrive is Welcome to Wandsworth's celebration of singing!
In Spring 2026, a series of events will take place across the borough that feature existing choirs as well as ‘come and sing’ opportunities for the community. Sing to Thrive will promote the health and social benefits of singing, and provide a range of performance opportunities for choirs.
Wandsworth Council has commissioned the composition of two news songs which will be performed as part of Sing to Thrive. Two composers, Bernard Hughes and Aga Serugo-Lugo, have been selected by a panel of local music partners, including Wandsworth Music, World Heart Beat and National Opera Studio. One of the new songs will be written for existing choirs and singing groups, and the other will be co-created with community and healthcare settings for those who may struggle to access singing opportunities. Both songs will be at the heart of the Sing to Thrive programme and will be performed at the Sing to Thrive finale event.
Sing in a Choir? Join Sing to Thrive
Sing to Thrive Events
Meet the Composers
Bernard Hughes
Bernard Hughes’s music has been performed by ensembles including the BBC Singers and the London Mozart Players at major British venues including the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral, and regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Bernard Hughes’s BBC commission Birdchant was premiered at the Proms in August 2021, the culmination of Bernard’s long relationship with the BBC Singers, which also included a major portrait concert in January 2020.
An album of choral music, Precious Things, sung by the Epiphoni Consort, was released in May 2022 and was described by Judith Weir as ‘choral music as we rarely hear it - generous, light-footed, surprising.’ Releases in 2023 included Bagatelles, an album of piano music, and the song cycle Songs for Our Times. In 2024 Hear My Heart Sing was premiered by the Bath choir Lucis, and it has gone on to receive a number of further performances, including by the National Youth Choir in 2025, and has been shortlisted for the Ivors Classical Awards.
Bernard Hughes lives in Wandsworth, and is Composer-in-Residence at the St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith.
Aga Serugo-Lugo
Aga Serugo-Lugo is a vocalist, clarinettist, pianist, composer and workshop leader. He sang in the 9-piece Funk band “Gefunkt”, and also composed and played for the jazz-fusion group ‘Eclectiv’.
Aga specialises in narrative-based community workshops, and has delivered for Sing-up, The Royal Opera House, ENO Engage, Streetwise Opera, Britten Pears Arts and Turtle Key Arts. He works in education settings for Trinity Laban, London Sinfonietta, Southbank Centre and BBC Proms.
In addition, Aga co-leads and writes for Camberwell Community Choir, who have regularly collaborated with the Mind and Soul Choir, based at the Maudsley Hospital.
Collaborative composition is at the heart of Aga's work. Examples include: Street cries of London, Wilton’s Music Hall (2009), Verona road, Intermission theatre (2010), The Conspirators project, The Yard (2012), Core Blimey: A Corby Musical (2014), The Old Man And The Sea, BPA (2019) The Winds Of Change, BPA (2022), Our Fire, BBC Proms (2022), What I Call Home, BBC Proms (2024) and Long Shop Sound Machine (2025).
Helen Eastman
Dr Helen Eastman is a writer, director and lyricist. She was recently nominated for an Ivor Novello award for her collaboration with Bernard Hughes, 'Hear my heart sing'. She has written lyrics and librettos for many operas, musicals, and choral pieces. Recent highlights include operas Climat, for Montpellier Opera House, Seven Ways to Wait for Grimebourne and the Ivano-Frankivsk Philharmonic Orchestra, a new choral work premiered by the BBC Singers in their 2025 Christmas concert, and the political cabaret, Risk - which opened the Toronto stock exchange's first ever climate week.
She is artistic director of Creation Theatre, founded the Live Canon Ensemble and publishing house, and co-founded the film company, Bare Faced Greek. She is a visiting lecturer at Westminster University and artistic associate of the APGRD at Oxford University.