Emma joined NZYC in 2017. She is in her final semester of a Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance Voice) and Bachelor of Arts (European Studies) conjoint degree at the University of Auckland. During her music degree, she studied with Dr. Morag Atchison and Dr. Te Oti Rakena. She has been an active member of Auckland Chamber Choir for the past two years.
Anna
Rowena lives in Wellington.
Benett is from Auckland.
He attended Westlake Boys’ High School and is currently studying at the University of Auckland.
Benett plays the clarinet and violin.
Cantaburian Kimberley Wood loves music and especially singing.
Studying piano and saxophone during her time at St Margaret’s College (and a bit of Spanish), she joined the Christchurch Youth Choir and later the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir for 2013-14. At University of Canterbury where she is studying towards a Bachelor of Music, she joined the resident choir Consortia. She also teaches barbershop at St Margaret’s in her spare time.
Kimberley joined NZYC in 2017.
When he’s not singing, Matthew spends his time finishing his Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland. Matthew enjoys singing in many music groups, from choirs to small ensembles with friends and treasures his time in NZYC, as it provides a great excuse to spend time with his favourite people.
Born and raised in Whangārei, soprano Rhiannon Cooper began her vocal journey with the late Joan Kennaway who fostered in her a love of Classical singing. While in Whangārei, she was a regular performer with Opera North as both a soloist and ensemble member before moving to Dunedin in 2016 to begin vocal studies at the University of Otago. In 2020 she completed a Bachelor of Music endorsed in Classical Performance with First Class Honours under the tutelage of PPF Judith Henley, Assoc. Professor Judy Bellingham, and Dr. Tessa Romano. She is currently studying towards a Master of Music in Classical Voice Performance with Dr. Tessa Romano and Blair Professor Terence Dennis.
Rhiannon has appeared onstage as Peep-Bo in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado and was scheduled to sing Rosalinde in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. She has been a guest soloist with a number of distinguished singers and groups such as Simon O’Neill and Anna Leese (Celebrating 2021 with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra), and Jonathan Lemalu (An Audience with Jonathan Lemalu). She is a two-time nominee for the PACANZ National Young Performer of the Year Award, recipient of the Colin McDonald Memorial Prize (2017), the Victor Galway Medal and Ida G White Memorial Prize (2020), and the RSA Choir Scholarship (2018-2021). In 2021, Rhiannon competed in the Christchurch Competition Society’s Annual Senior Vocal Competitions, placing in all classes entered and third in the Dame Malvina Major Aria.
An avid ensemble singer, Rhiannon also frequently performs with the Octagon Ensemble as a soloist and as an ensemble member, and was a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir (2017-2019), touring internationally with them on their 40th Anniversary Pacific Tour in 2019. The relationship between solo and ensemble singing in where she is focussing her Master’s research.
This year, Rhiannon was one of twenty-one singers selected to attend the prestigious New Zealand Opera School where she was awarded the Merle Higgie Memorial Award. The final concert of New Zealand Opera Shool was reviewed in the Whanganui Chronicle. The reporter made the comments “And then there was a young woman – Rhiannon Cooper, an incredible young singer … one to watch … As she glided onto the stage … this statuesque singer was riveting, utterly memorable.”
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Porirua-based soprano Karishma Thanawala is a student at Victoria University in Wellington studying towards a Bachelor of Commerce and Music, majoring in Classical Voice and Accounting. Her passion for singing is evident in Karishma’s membership in the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, the Young Woman’s Barbershop Chorus and performances at the Indian Association of Wellington at the annual Navrati and Diwali celebrations.
Carla is a voice student at Auckland University in Classical Performance.
She understudied ‘The Mistress’ for the 2016 Auckland season of ‘Evita’, plays the piano and speaks Maltese.
Carla joined NZYC in 2017.
Maaike lives in Wellington.
