Fiona is from Auckland.

Susan began her musical training in Christchurch, singing and playing the piano, violin and clarinet. Her professional singing career has spanned over 30 years. She has performed as a soprano soloist for many choirs and orchestras in New Zealand and overseas and as an opera singer here and in Australia.

As a chorister she has sung in many choirs including the New Zealand National Youth Choir, the Jubilate Singers and the Queensland University Chamber Singers. Susan sang with Voices NZ from 2001-2003, and has returned to the choir in 2014.

Susan completed a BA in music at Canterbury University and a Dip Mus and BMus in Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. She has taught voice, and other instruments, both privately and at schools, in New Zealand and Australia.

Susan is currently an Itinerant Teacher of Voice at Burnside High School. As a conductor she has had national success with all her Burnside choirs, winning the Platinum award at the NZ Choral Federation Big Sing Finale three times as well as receiving many Gold awards. She also conducts the Jubilate Singers and the University of Canterbury Chamber Choir, Consortia.

Susan was a NZ Youth Choir member 1985-2000.

Rachel Alexander, MMus (Hons), GradDipTchg (Secondary), BA

Rachel performs regularly, both as a soloist and in choirs around Auckland and New Zealand. She was a member of NZYC and has sung with the New Zealand Opera Chorus from 2005-2014.  Rachel has been a member of Voices NZ since 2010. Rachel teaches both itinerant voice and classroom Music at Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. She is the director of their Year 7 & 8 Choir, Senior Choir, co-director and vocal consultant to the St Cecilia Singers and also directs two Handbell Choirs.  Rachel is also Assistant Director (vocal) of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir. Rachel studied at the University of Auckland and completed her Master of Music in Vocal Performance.

Natasha was born and raised in Auckland, and is of Maori and European heritage. She has a BMus(Hons) majoring in classical vocal performance from the University of Auckland. Natasha made her professional debut with New Zealand Opera, as a member of the company for their touring production of The Mikado and was involved in workshops of Tim Finn’s upcoming opera, Star Navigator, in the role of Purea. Natasha has also performed internationally with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra as the soprano soloist in their Spanish Baroque concert series. Natasha is a member of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation’s mentoring programme. Natasha is also an alumni of the New Zealand Youth Choir.

Fiona has been a member of Voices NZ Chamber Choir since 2006 and has previously sung with NZ Youth Choir, London’s BBC Symphony Chorus, V8, Auckland Chamber Choir and Dorian Choir. Fiona is the Director of Cantare, the premier girls choir at Westlake Girls High School in Auckland, where she is the Head of Music.

Celia sang with the NZ Youth Choir from 1989 to 1996 and was a founding member of Voices New Zealand from 1998 to around 2007. She has enjoyed singing with many choirs over the years and was one of the original members of Auckland vocal group, V8 Vocal Ensemble. In recent times, she has performed with various Auckland choirs, including Bach Musica and Handel Consort, and has had some solo oratorio engagements.

Currently, Celia is a member of the St Matthew’s Voices quartet and the Auckland Chamber Choir. Celia is a Marine Underwriting & Risk Executive in the insurance field.

Sponsored by
Ted & Ann Aspey (2018-2020)

Robert studied at Victoria University, the University of Auckland and Queensland Conservatory of Music. Recent collaborations include An Evening with Simon O’Neill, NZ’s own international Wagnerian star, Kiri and Friends (training the chorus for a concert at Vector Arena as part of the Rugby World Cup, 2011 festival featuring Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra); celebrated New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai, on the launch of his entry for the Venice Art Biennale, On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer; The Island Chai concert series with Aivale Cole, Benjamin Makisi, Anna Pierard and Phil Rhodes at the Auckland Museum, a concert for the union heads of the Rugby World Cup, 2011. He was artistic director of the V8 Vocal Ensemble, training the group for two performances of Berio’s Sinfonia with James Judd and the NZSO. Robert was formerly conductor of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir and voice clinician for the New Zealand Youth Choir and VOICES New Zealand Chamber Choir.

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 48^th 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.

Diccon Sim is a partner in Dunedin law firm, Gallaway Cook Allan.  He studied Philosophy and Law at the University of Otago and also holds a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Oxford University.

He was a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir from 1983 to 1988, and a member of its management committee during that time. A longstanding member of Dunedin’s St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, he has also sung as a tenor Vicar Choral in the choir of Wells Cathedral, and was a member of Schola Cantorum of Oxford during his postgraduate studies.

Diccon serves on the Boards of Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre and Selwyn College as well as the Boards of a number of trusts in the disability sector. He is also Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin and a Proprietor of St Hilda’s Collegiate School.

Diccon joined the trust in May 2015 and has been Choirs Aotearoa’s Honorary Solicitor for a number of years.

Stephen Park sang tenor in the inaugural New Zealand Youth Choir (1979-1982) and was a member of the choir’s management committee in 86/87.  He sang for 20 years from 1969, in Auckland and Wellington, in choirs including: the Auckland Boys Choir, Auckland University Singers, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Auckland Dorians, and St Mary of the Angels.

He graduated in law in 81, then worked as an arts administrator at Chamber Music NZ and the NZ Festival of the Arts, before moving to the Office of the Clerk at Parliament.  After living in Vancouver during the 90s, where he shifted focus into clinical information services, he returned to NZ in 2003.  He has since worked at the Auckland area DHBs in clinical data and quality improvement roles.