Maaike Christie-Beekman started her vocal training and pedagogy studies at the Amsterdam Conservatorium where she first graduated for her Bachelor’s degree in vocal pedagogy and in 2000 gained her artist diploma. She studied with renowned voice teacher Margreet Honig. She also studied at the Conservatoire de Metz, France with Udo Reinemann.

To enhance her skills in chamber music, Maaike took part at the Britten Pears School in Aldeburgh with Sergei Leiferkus, and followed art song courses with Roger Vignoles, Rudolf Jansen and Konrad Richter.

From 2002, she was a member of the Netherlands Opera Studio and worked with director Pierre Audi and conductors Nicholas McGegan and Ed Spanjaard.

As a professional singer, Maaike has sung opera, oratorio and chamber music throughout the Netherlands and Europe and features on Brilliant Classics, singing the title role of Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba and featuring on Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias.

In 2010 Maaike moved to New Zealand with her husband and two daughters. She was a Resident Artist for the New Zealand Opera for two years and performed in a number of Days Bay Opera productions. Currently, Maaike regularly performs chamber music and oratorio. She has sung at the Schubertiade Festival, sang Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Ete with the Manawatu symphony orchestra, performed Mahler songs with the Wellington Chamber Orchestra and regularly collaborates with the Takiri ensemble. As an oratorio soloist, she performed among others in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Orpheus choir, Handel’s Messiah with the Christchurch City Choir and Rachmaninov’s Vespers with Inspirare.

Next to her singing, Maaike is a voice teacher, conductor and offers training and workshops in performance, presentation and stagecraft. Currently she is an artist teacher at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music teaching Voice & Performance and Stagecraft.

Voices NZ, 1998, 2014 – present.

Karen was a founder member of Voices NZ in 1998, including their tour to Spain later that year after relocating to London. While in the UK she sang with the BBC Symphony Chorus, and Surrey chamber choir, the Occam Singers.

Since moving back to New Zealand in 2009 she has performed solos for the Linden Singers and Hastings Choral society as well as being a singing member of Cantare chamber choir, 2011-2016.

In 2015 together with 4 local musicians she formed the vocal ensemble, Amabile, specialising in early sacred and secular music.

Karen also holds a performance diploma on Viola and was a member of the NZ Youth Orchestra.

Helen grew up in Hamilton singing in choirs, while obtaining an ATCL in piano and a Bachelor of Management Studies, before moving to Auckland as an accountant.

In 1991 she joined Viva Voce and continues to enjoy singing with this group. Highlights in recent years include selection for the NZCF Tallis choir project in 2013 and as a soloist for a combined-choir Elijah in 2016. Helen was National Accountant for the New Zealand Choral Federation during the first four years of its revamped governance structure.

Erin was a member of the 2000-2001 New Zealand Youth Choir and first sang with Voices NZ in 2012.

Erin has a BMus(Hons) in Musicology from the University of Auckland and a PhD on music in literature from the University of Edinburgh. After several years teaching university English in New Zealand and Canada, Erin is now retraining as a secondary English and Music teacher. She has sung in chamber and cathedral choirs in Scotland, Canada and New Zealand and is currently a member of the Auckland Chamber Choir.

Anna grew up in Christchurch, where she spent her formative years learning piano and violin, playing in competitions and orchestras and later singing in choirs. She was a member of the NZ Youth Choir for six years, during which time she toured to the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales where the choir won the coveted ‘Choir of the World’ title. 

Anna has a particular interest in early music; currently she sings regularly with Wellington-based early music ensembles The Tudor Consort and The Queen’s Closet. Musical highlights have included performing as Venus in The Queen’s Closet’s presentation of The Judgment of Paris as well as a leading role in their production of Cloverton, featuring music from the Restoration. Other projects have included singing as a soloist in a Bach Cantata in a service to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and performing on the soundtrack for Hunt for the Wilderpeople with members of Baroque Voices. 

Anna is a Registered Music Therapist, which involves running a busy private practice, and working one day at the Wellington Early Intervention Trust. In addition to this, she directs choirs at Kelburn Normal School, teaches singing, and leads the Karori Community Singers. She lives in Wellington with her husband Michael Stewart and their two children, Alexander and Zoë. 

Amanda was a member of the NZYC in 2010.

She lives in Wellington and holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Otago. She has been involved with local and national ensembles including Wellington’s Tudor Consort and Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus.

Simon Christie is a Wellington-based bass-baritone who studied singing under Emily Mair in Wellington and Udo Reinemann in Amsterdam. Simon was a member of De Nieuwe Opera Academie from 2001-2003 where he performed the roles of Figaro, Papageno and Le fauteil from L’enfant et les sortilèges. He also sang the role of Masetto with Opera Utrecht, as well as operas by Offenbach and Suppe for Opera Trionfo and in productions with the De Nederlandse Opera including Götterdämmerung, Norma, L’amour des Trois Orange, Peter Grimes and Samson. In oratorio, Simon sang as a bass soloist at the Montedon Festival in France, the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy and the Ljubliana Festival in Slovenia and also in Denmark. He also sang Bach cantatas regularly with the Noordelijke Bach Consort and the Amsterdam Bach consort. Recital highlights include singing at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and in Stuttgart for the KunstKeller Festival. A particular career highlight was performing Des Knaben Wunderhorn for the ex-French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, at his residence in France.

Since returning to New Zealand, Simon performs as Oratorio soloist with various choral societies, and also sings Opera roles with Days Bay Opera. A member of The NZ National Youth Choir from 1994-1996, Simon has re-engaged his love for choral singing by re-joining the Tudor Consort of which he was a member during the 1990’s, and has formed renaissance group – Aurora Four.

Originally from Christchurch, Nicholas is a tutor and postgraduate student at the University of Auckland, studying conducting. He is the Musical Director of Harbour Voices and GALS choirs and currently, the acting Director of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Auckland.

Sponsored by:
Lindsay Curnow & Juliet Leigh
2018-2023

In 2016, Jonathan graduated from the University of Waikato with First Class Honours, where he was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar. He was a member and bass leader of the New Zealand Youth Choir from 2013-2016, singing with them on their tours to the USA and Canada in 2013 and to Europe in 2016. He has also been a member of Voices NZ Chamber Choir since 2013.

Jonathan’s concert and oratorio repertoire include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Faure’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Ramirez’s Missa Criolla , Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Mozart’s Vespers solennes de Dominica, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, Durufle’s Requiem and Cantatas BWV 4, 12, 44, 82, 93, BuxWV 51, and GWV 1161. At University, Jonathan had roles in The Magic Flute, The White Lady, The Telephone The Old Maid and the Thief, and Flowing Water. Jonathan has also been involved with NZ Opera since 2014 performing roles in Brass Poppies, Elixir of Love, and Don Pasquale, and as a chorus member in Tosca, The Magic Flute, The Mikado, Carmen, and Manon Lescaut.

Jonathan recently debuted as a soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in June singing in their performance of Neilsen’s Symphony No. 3 “Espansiva”. He was awarded the Creative/Performing Arts Person of the Year award at the 2016 University of Waikato Blues Awards. Jonathan has received a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Scholarship to attend Italian and Opera Masterclasses in Italy in October 2017 with Patricia Hurley’s Opera Tours.

Isaac Stone teaches classroom music, classical singing and leads the choral programme at Tawa College, including the chamber choir Blue Notes which recently received a Gold Award at the NZCF Big Sing Finale. He is the founding musical director of the innovative Wellington-based choir Supertonic and sings in a number of choirs in Wellington, including Tudor Consort and Inspirare.