Our Story
Our founder, Kristie Winsen, completed her musical theatre studies in 2019 and then found herself stuck at home during the pandemic. After performing in a couple of online concerts, she decided to start a regular concert on Zoom to lift the spirits of her friends and family. She invited fellow musical theatre graduates and some West End professionals to join her. Within a year, UPLIFT grew into a Zoom phenomenon, reaching audiences in over 25 countries.
The concept of UPLIFT is simple - it is designed to lift your spirits with uplifting musical theatre. As well as singing, each performer shares from their own life something they have found uplifting.
We receive so many messages from people all around the world who have been cheered and encouraged by joining us for an UPLIFT concert. Entry is by donation, with some free tickets available for those who need them, as we want everyone around the world to be welcome.
Following the success of our at-home concerts, we launched UPLIFT Live at The Theatre Cafe. These special live performances feature favourite musical theatre songs, exclusive interviews, audience participation, and UPLIFT's iconic intermission dance break. Performed for a live audience at The Theatre Cafe in London's West End these concerts are also live-streamed on Zoom. Watch the trailer.
UPLIFT Together is purely for live audiences, with a set list of group numbers that enables UPLIFT performers to sing together for the first time. These performances feature some of our unique musical medleys including a live performance of the UPLIFT Princess Medley. UPLIFT Together first launched at The Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
You can help to support UPLIFT and our mission to lift spirits by joining our UPLIFTERS Club on Patreon, contributing to our crowdfunding campaign on JustGiving and letting your friends know about our upcoming concerts. With your help, more people around the world can join the UPLIFT experience.
The Creative Team
Kristie Winsen
Founder & Creative Director
Kristie Winsen is a singer, performer, producer and marketer based in London. She has worked for some of the world’s leading brands, whilst also progressing a career in the performing arts. She is now applying the business skills she honed in the corporate world to her work with creative theatre professionals.
Kristie holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing & Finance) from UNSW, Sydney, and a Diploma in Musical Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, London.
Jamie Rowsell
Technical Director
Jamie grew up immersed in the world of musical theatre. Joining dance school at age 5 and attending drama school through his teenage years, he is no stranger to the stage, but he also loves turning his hand to backstage jobs and loves working behind the scenes to make shows happen.
Jamie has worked as a musical theatre tutor, lighting technician, sound engineer and has recently learned to transfer his skills to the world of Zoom. Now working full time in Marketing, Jamie relishes any opportunity to stir up his passion for musical theatre.
Jack Breeze
Musical Arranger
Jack is a music director and pianist from Sheffield. In 2019, he received his masters degree in musical direction from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts after reading music at the University of Sheffield, where he specialised in performance and composition.
Recent credits include Musical Director for Dick Whittington (The Maltings, Ely), and Raising Me Up (Phoenix Arts Club, London), and Assistant Musical Director on Peter Pan (Theatre Royal, Margate), Sweeney Todd (Shoreditch Town Hall, London), and American Idiot (Mountview Academy, London).
Jennifer Adab
Vocal Arranger
Jennifer Adab is a classically trained singer and pianist with DipABRSM in classical voice and a masters with distinction in Musical Theatre from Guildford School of Acting. She has sung with various professional choirs for as long as she can remember, including the Durham Cathedral Choral Society and the Vasari Singers, and loves creating harmonies and vocal arrangements to enhance music. In her previous job as a corporate lawyer, she would pass the time during long evenings in the office, waiting for deals to close, by composing her own acapella vocal arrangements of songs. For a number of years she established, arranged the music for, trained and conducted choirs of lawyers in legal choir competitions across the City of London. She is currently performing in the West End cast of Mamma Mia.
Thomas Currie
Musical Arranger
Thomas Currie is an actor, singer, producer, arranger and musical director. Thomas has been praised for his “goosebump inducing harmonies” that “reached musical near-perfection” (Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane). A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, in 2018 Thomas performed in and produced two sold out seasons of ‘The Curtain Rises’. In 2020, Thomas was part of the workshop cast of ‘Gold: A New Musical’, a project produced by James Millar’s ‘Hope: A New Works Development Initiative’. Recently, Thomas produced ‘Committed Content Confused’, which opened at the Wynnum Fringe Festival; a production for which he is also the musical director and arranger.