Nicolas is currently pursuing a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Canterbury. An active member of the Christchurch music scene, Nicolas is regularly involved with award-winning groups across choral, barbershop, opera, and contemporary a cappella genres. Nicolas is the current NZYC board representative to Choirs Aotearoa, the Manager of Quantum Acoustics chorus, and the treasurer of the Christchurch Youth Choir. In his free moments, Nicolas enjoys the storytelling of his regular Dungeons & Dragons game.
Diana Cable has 24 years’ experience in the arts sector. After 4 years as an Industrial Relations Officer in the State Services Commission, Diana turned to the arts in 1986. One year managing Wellington City Opera was followed by 10 years as a Music Producer at Radio New Zealand Concert. She then worked as an independent producer for 7 years and was appointed as Artistic Administrator of the New Zealand International Arts Festival in 2003, after working for the Festival on a contract basis from 1997.
Having managed the Lexus Song Quest (formerly Mobil) since 1990, Diana also has considerable experience working with young singers.
Diana is a member of the Board of Trustees of Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand and Chair of its Artistic Advisory Group, a member of the Wellington Creative Communities grants committee and a Past President of the New Zealand Opera Society.
Diana is an alumnus of the New Zealand Youth Choir
DMA, DipRAM, PGDip(Perf), BMus(Hons), LRAM
Morag Atchison has firmly established herself as one of New Zealand’s leading sopranos. She studied at the University of Auckland and Royal Academy of Music (London), and was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier and Royal Over-Seas League Competitions. She has performed operatic roles including Berta, The Barber of Seville (NZ Opera) Helmwige, Die Walküre (NZSO); Lady-in-waiting, Verdi’s Macbeth; First Lady, Magic Flute (NBR NZ Opera); Fourth Maid, Strauss’ Elektra (APO); Blumenmädchen, Parsifal (NZSO); Annina, La traviata (English Touring Opera) and Sandrina, La Finta Giardiniera (Opera Unleashed, Hamilton Festival). Morag’s concert engagements include performances of the Britten War Requiem (CSO); Mozart Requiem (Voices NZ and Wellington Sinfonia); Handel’s Messiah (VNZ and WS; Auckland Choral); Verdi Requiem (Bach Musica); Tippett’s A Child of our Time with the NZYC and NZSO-NYO; and Beethoven’s Ah! perfido (APO and Manukau Symphony). In 2018 Morag travelled to England, France, Germany, and Spain as part of Voices New Zealand’s European tour and was a soloist on the soundtrack for the major motion-picture Mortal Engines. This year Morag sang the role of Berta in NZ Opera’s season of The Barber of Seville to great acclaim.
Morag is Senior Lecturer in Voice at the University of Auckland, is a vocal tutor for the acclaimed New Zealand Youth Choir, the University of Auckland Chamber Choir and for over a decade worked with the award-winning Choralation from Westlake Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools. In 2013 Morag was awarded a doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Auckland, the first DMA in vocal studies from a New Zealand University and in 2019 was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM)
David has taught music in schools for 35 years and in 2011 won a New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Medal for services to music education. His ensembles have won many awards at local and international music festivals, such as the NZCF Big Sing. His Rangitoto College mixed-voice chamber choir, The Fundamentals, won the platinum award at the 2008 NZCF Big Sing Finale in Wellington – the first time for a mixed-voice choir. David’s upper-voice choir from Kristin School, Euphony, was third in the open female choir competition at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, in 2013. In 2019, Euphony represented New Zealand at the Budapest International Choral Festival, winning the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category, coming 3rd in the open Musica Sacra category and was invited to compete for the Grand Prix. David’s Westlake Boys High School lower-voice choir, Voicemale, won the Grand Prix at the 2nd Leonardo da Vinci International Choral Festival in Florence in 2018, and David won the award for best conductor at this event. David has been music director of the Westlake Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, and it has won more gold awards at the KBB Music Festival than any other ensemble. In 2014 the orchestra was placed first equal at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna.
David is also the director of the Auckland Youth Choir, Vice-Chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, is a national conducting advisor and tutor, and was a governance board member of the New Zealand Choral Federation for 9 years. He completed his undergraduate study at the University of Auckland, with an emphasis on conducting and composition, later graduating with a Master of Music degree with first class honours in choral conducting. He studied singing with Isabel Cunningham, Glenese Blake and Beatrice Webster, and conducting with Karen Grylls and Juan Matteucci. He has sung with many top choirs in New Zealand, including the Auckland Dorian Choir, University of Auckland Chamber Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir. He was a founding member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and the V8 Vocal Ensemble.
David has previously led the New Zealand Youth Choir on four international tours, including the USA and Canada in 2013, which featured performances of the War Requiem by Britten in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Washington DC. In 2016 the choir gave concerts in Singapore, the Czech Republic, France and the UK. Tour highlights included singing high mass at Notre-Dame in Paris, a lunchtime concert at Windsor Castle, and producing a live DVD recording of a well-received concert at St Johns Smith Square in London. The choir also participated in the Festival of Academic Choirs in Pardubice, Czech Republic, winning every category it entered, as well as the prize for outstanding vocal culture, and then going on to win the Grand Prix. At the end of 2019 the choir embarked on a Pacific tour aboard the cruise ship MS Maasdam, taking in Tonga, Niue, Fiji, New Caledonia and Sydney. In 2022 the choir toured Australia,
presenting performances in Tasmania, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and at the Sydney Opera House.
As a freelance musician, David has conducted several local ensembles, including the Auckland Philharmonia and the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra. He was the assistant musical director of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir, founding musical director of the Auckland Youth Big Band, chairman and administrator of the KBB Music Festival, and a live performance reviewer for Radio NZ Concert. He is often involved in session and recording work, particularly as a conductor, adjudicator, clinician and singer and was choir director on the recent New Zealand film, Tinā. He has also served as the choir director for Synthony, and is the chorus master for the International Schools Choral Music Society based in China.
PhD, MM (Choral Conducting), MMus Hons, LRSM, LTCL, Dip Teaching
Dr Karen Grylls CNZM founded Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir in 1998 and the choir has achieved great acclaim internationally in performance and recording. She is Associate Professor in Choral Conducting at the University of Auckland and is Artistic Director of the Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand Trust, the managing body for the NZ Youth Choir and Voices NZ. Dr Grylls was Conductor and Artistic Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir from 1989 to 2011, and Artistic Director of Toronto’s Exultate Chamber Choir from 2011 to 2013.
A graduate of both Otago and Auckland Universities, Karen studied post-graduate Conducting and Music Theory at the University of Washington, Seattle, for four years. In 1985 she returned to NZ to teach at the University of Auckland and take up the directorship of the Auckland Dorian Choir.
As a result of her musical directorship, the New Zealand Youth Choir has enjoyed notable international successes including: the Silver Rosebowl in the “Let the Peoples Sing” radio competition in 1992, “Choir of the World” at the 1999 International Eisteddfod in Llangollen and the “Grand Prix Slovakia” also in 1999.
With equal success Voices New Zealand won first and second placings in the mixed choir section of the Tolosa International Choral Competition in October 1998. With these choirs, she has won further prizes and accolades in Gorizia 2004, and Llangollen and Cantonigros, Spain in 2007.
In 1996 Auckland University honoured her with a Distinguished Teaching Award in Music and in 2023 she became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for her services to choral music. She is also the recipient of the KBB Citation from the Composers’ Association of New Zealand and the Lilburn Trust Citation for services to New Zealand music. TOWER Voices CD Spirit of the Land took the 2006 Tui Award for Best Classical Album, and the CD Voice of the Soul was a finalist in the 2013 Vodafone NZ Music awards.
Karen is much in demand as an adjudicator for competitions worldwide, including the 48th International competition in Tolosa, the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition, Bavaria, and The World Choir Games in Xiamen, China. She is sought internationally as a choral clinician and regularly conducts masterclasses and workshops in Wales, England, North America, Canada and Australia.
Rowan Johnston has a Bachelor in Music from Victoria University in classical singing and composition and a Postgraduate Diploma and Masters in Conducting from Auckland University. An alumnus of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir and the New Zealand Youth Choir, Rowan still sings in Voices New Zealand, our premier chamber choir.
Rowan grew up in a musical family, played in pipe bands and sang his the church choir with his sister. It was as a member of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, led by Roger Stevenson, that he realised he had found his tribe and wanted to sing at the highest level. Rowan went on to sing with the New Zealand Youth choir directed by Dr Karen Grylls, who inspired him to follow both his passion for singing and interest in directing.
Rowan has previously conducted the Taranaki and Auckland Youth Choirs, was Director of Choirs at Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and HOD Music at Westlake Girls High School, where he conducted Choralation – the school’s premier mixed voice choir. Under his leadership, Choralation was placed 1st in the Mixed Choir category at the Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.
Rowan recently relocated from Auckland to Wellington and is HOD Music at Chilton Saint James School where he conducts all the school’s choirs. He also directs the Wellington Youth Choir and co-directs the Aotearoa Academy Choir.
Rowan has regularly been invited to conduct choirs at the Gondwana National Choral School in Australia and is a Choral Advisor for the NZ Choral Federation.
Jared is a choral director, itinerant voice teacher, and part-time General Practice Registrar, originally from Ashburton. Alongside his medical training, he has pursued a career in music, studying Piano with Professor Terence Dennis at The University of Otago, accompanying then directing the Wellington Youth Choir, then completing Graduate and Postgraduate Diplomas in Choral Conducting with Dr Karen Grylls at The University of Auckland, while directing the choirs at Saint Kentigern College. Since relocating to Christchurch, Jared has been a conducting intern for the Korokoro Tūī Ngāi Tahu choir project, Assistant Director of Epiphony choir directed by Naomi Hnat, director of The Cecilian Singers, and is currently the director of the Christchurch Youth Choir and the senior choir at St Andrew’s College. He also serves as an itinerant voice teacher at The Cathedral Grammar School and St Andrew’s College, and as the Regional Representative for the Canterbury/West Coast region of the New Zealand Choral Federation. Jared is an alumnus of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir, the New Zealand Youth Choir, and the University of Otago Capping Sextet.
Luana has sung in choirs since high school, when she was fortunate to tour with Key Cygnetures under the direction of Elise Bradley. Her journey in singing has taken her through the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir, NZ Youth Choir, Cappella vocal ensemble, and Auckland Chamber Choir.
Having completed a conjoint degree in Performance Voice and German language, she has worked as a teacher of music, vocal coach, and choir consultant. She feels privileged to now also direct a number of high school choirs in Auckland, and help develop the next generation of choral singers.
Emma began her singing training at the University of Otago, graduating with a BA and Bmus (hons) in Voice. She then completed a Professional Performance Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK (PPRNCM). Emma has been a regular concert soloist and is a member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus. She is also an experienced singing teacher, vocal coach, and high school English and Drama teacher.
Megan Flint has a background in both education and music as a teacher, conductor and singer. She is active within Music Education New Zealand Aotearoa (MENZA) and the Association of Choral Directors (ACD) as a board member.
Megan has a passion for working with treble choirs and is the co-author of Hear Our Voices, a handbook for leaders of children’s choirs. She is a national conducting mentor for the New Zealand Choral Federation, presenting their Singing Matters programmes for primary school song leaders. Megan sings with Voices New Zealand and conducts a community choir in Taupō, New Zealand.
Megan directs the activities of Kodály Aotearoa and her commitment to ‘music for all’ guides her passion for music education. A current doctoral candidate in music education, she is committed to ensuring that all teachers and students can access and acquire knowledge and experiences that enable them to engage with music knowledgeably: as performers, creators, listeners and innovators.
