Jessie Vintila
Jessie Vintila comes from a long line of musicians and music teachers, and grew up performing with her mother and grandfather in the folk festival scene of Western Australia. A love of connecting with other cultures through music was also a family passion. She studied voice at Perth Modern School, where she was trained in the invaluable Hungarian Kodaly hand sign method. Jessie went on to study jazz at the WA Conservatorium of Music. At 18 she started performing her own music and also began to direct her first choir, in a role which was to become her life's passion.
As a young adult Jessie pursued her performing career, moved to the very creative Northern New South Wales region, and completed a Certificate 4 in Music Business and a Certificate 4 in Small Business Management, as well as teaching music privately, in schools, and to groups of seniors and people with disabilities.
By 2013 she'd left full time performing behind and was directing four Raise the Roof Choirs, a thriving, singing community in Northern NSW, as well as regular singing workshops across Australia and New Zealand. The concept for Sing the Camino was born as a way to bring together her passions for travel, bushwalking, and group singing.
Up until 2018, along with Sing the Camino's co-founder Emma Royle, Jessie hosted around 250 fellow lovers of walking and singing on these sumptuous small-group tours through rural northern Spain on the famous Camino Frances. She found brilliant musicians and folklorists to bring local songs and stories to share in intimate evenings with the groups. Both avid food and wine lovers, Jessie and Emma took great care curating menus of the best of local Galician cuisine. The tours were so loved by the participants, many were returning for more, so they designed a second Sing the Camino tour, on the lesser known Camino Portuguese, which heads north towards Santiago de Compostela from Barcelos, Portugal. When Jessie and Emma's baby was born in 2019, Jessie ran Sing the Camino Portuguese trips with the help of excellent local guides, including the very knowledgable, accomplished and creative Marta Trueba.
Jessie’s talent and skill lies in balancing the joy of singing, improvising and setting your voice free, with a commitment to musical excellence and a great feel for rhythm. With a growing collection of wonderful Spanish, Galician and Portuguese songs in her repertoire, Jessie also creates her own exciting and uplifting choral arrangements.
As a young adult Jessie pursued her performing career, moved to the very creative Northern New South Wales region, and completed a Certificate 4 in Music Business and a Certificate 4 in Small Business Management, as well as teaching music privately, in schools, and to groups of seniors and people with disabilities.
By 2013 she'd left full time performing behind and was directing four Raise the Roof Choirs, a thriving, singing community in Northern NSW, as well as regular singing workshops across Australia and New Zealand. The concept for Sing the Camino was born as a way to bring together her passions for travel, bushwalking, and group singing.
Up until 2018, along with Sing the Camino's co-founder Emma Royle, Jessie hosted around 250 fellow lovers of walking and singing on these sumptuous small-group tours through rural northern Spain on the famous Camino Frances. She found brilliant musicians and folklorists to bring local songs and stories to share in intimate evenings with the groups. Both avid food and wine lovers, Jessie and Emma took great care curating menus of the best of local Galician cuisine. The tours were so loved by the participants, many were returning for more, so they designed a second Sing the Camino tour, on the lesser known Camino Portuguese, which heads north towards Santiago de Compostela from Barcelos, Portugal. When Jessie and Emma's baby was born in 2019, Jessie ran Sing the Camino Portuguese trips with the help of excellent local guides, including the very knowledgable, accomplished and creative Marta Trueba.
Jessie’s talent and skill lies in balancing the joy of singing, improvising and setting your voice free, with a commitment to musical excellence and a great feel for rhythm. With a growing collection of wonderful Spanish, Galician and Portuguese songs in her repertoire, Jessie also creates her own exciting and uplifting choral arrangements.
"With her sunny disposition, her approachability and her love for song and teaching, Jessie creates a wonderful sound and cohesiveness in her choirs and workshops. She is musically diligent, vocally gifted and a very clear and encouraging director - and fun to work with."
TONY BACKHOUSE
TONY BACKHOUSE
Marta Trueba
Marta Trueba grew up in the coastal town of A Coruña (Galicia, Spain), a place open to the ocean, and traditional port of origin of the Camino Ingles to Santiago. This lovely location grew in her a devotion to nature in all its forms and Marta soon started to explore it.
She completed her studies in English Language and Literature in the United Kingdom, after which she spent many years working as administrative officer and translator in Madrid and A Coruña. Over these years Marta continued her mountaineering activity, cycling, hiking and rock climbing whenever possible. She has hiked most of Spanish mountain ranges, completed the crossing of the Pyrenees, climbed the Mont Blanc in the French Alps, scuba dived in the Atlantic Ocean, cycled in the Himachal district (low Himalayas, India)…
Her passion for languages makes her today fluent in English, Portuguese and French. This allows her to combine mountain trips with driving holidays in which to discover landscapes, foods and cultures: Spain, Portugal, Andorra, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Corsica, Morocco, Germany, Ireland, Cuba, Uruguay…
Tourguiding the Camino “puts together what I most like in life: nature, being active, and people, all three combined to help achieve the goal of every individual in the group. The moment of arrival to the Plaza do Obradoiro is very special and touching, each time”. Marta works as tourguide both cycling and walking, and specializes in the Caminos in Galicia. She came on board to guide Sing the Camino Portuguese with Jessie in 2019.
In her free time, Marta grows a small vegetable garden and helps maintain the antique cellar of the family in the region of Ribeiro, around which a 150 year old vineyard is still being cultivated with love.
She completed her studies in English Language and Literature in the United Kingdom, after which she spent many years working as administrative officer and translator in Madrid and A Coruña. Over these years Marta continued her mountaineering activity, cycling, hiking and rock climbing whenever possible. She has hiked most of Spanish mountain ranges, completed the crossing of the Pyrenees, climbed the Mont Blanc in the French Alps, scuba dived in the Atlantic Ocean, cycled in the Himachal district (low Himalayas, India)…
Her passion for languages makes her today fluent in English, Portuguese and French. This allows her to combine mountain trips with driving holidays in which to discover landscapes, foods and cultures: Spain, Portugal, Andorra, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Corsica, Morocco, Germany, Ireland, Cuba, Uruguay…
Tourguiding the Camino “puts together what I most like in life: nature, being active, and people, all three combined to help achieve the goal of every individual in the group. The moment of arrival to the Plaza do Obradoiro is very special and touching, each time”. Marta works as tourguide both cycling and walking, and specializes in the Caminos in Galicia. She came on board to guide Sing the Camino Portuguese with Jessie in 2019.
In her free time, Marta grows a small vegetable garden and helps maintain the antique cellar of the family in the region of Ribeiro, around which a 150 year old vineyard is still being cultivated with love.