The Choral Laboratory is made up of a certain number of people who join the Association in order to learn singing.  Their purpose is to practice choral activity and, eventually, to sing in the Sarah Sheppard Choir.  They are instructed by Sergio Turra (Music Director) and Oreste Palamara (Artistic Director).
The Choral Laboratory takes advantage of the talents of some of its members, at present Fabiola Ricci (or of external qualified consultants) in order to hold collective music seminars which are part of the normal laboratory activity.
The Choral Laboratory is open to all people who have the necessary requisites and abilities to partecipate in its activities.  In order to be admitted, first it is necessary to pass an audition and then to join the Association.

Group rehearsals and other activities take place at the Sala Diana Franceschi, in Villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati (Via Toscana 19, Bologna) which is run by the Comune of Bologna.

Sergio Turra - Music Director

The Musical Director of the group studied at the G.B.Martini Conservatory of Bologna.  He holds a diploma in Pianoforte having studied under Luigi Mostacci, another one in Choral Music and Conducting, under Tito Gotti, and a certificate in Jazz Music, under Ettore Ballotta.  Maestro Turra gives concerts as a soloist and in various groups, and works as an arranger, writing music for instrumental and vocal groups.  He has collaborated as composer and performer in the making of some recordings at the RAI (Italian National Radio) and in 1989 he obtained the 1st prize in a national competition of composition of children's music (Kinder-oper) at Sasso Marconi.  He is a member of "Euridice", a choral association in Bologna and contributes both as a performer and a teaching assistant.

Oreste Palamara - Artistic Director

He began to study singing at the Sigismondo d'India Reneissance Music School in Palermo, directed by Wolfgang Fromme and Gabriel Garrido.  In Bologna, having studied under Cristina Miatello and Paride Venturi, he sang in various groups as a soloist ("Ensemble Einrich Schütz", "Collegium Musicum Almae Matris", "Gruppo Perti").  In 1995 Oreste Palamara founded, together with Sergio Turra, the Sarah Sheppard Spirituals Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble.  He is the person in charge of movement and choreography, which is always performed with the music, and also for organisation, publicity and the image of the group.  He is graduate in Foreign Languages and Literature, and took part in various courses and stages of anglosaxon civilization, language and culture in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Bournemouth (England), Edinburgh (Scotland), Rhode Island (USA) and Sydney (Australia).