International Keynote Speaker: Mary Saunders-Barton (USA)

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Mary is a Penn State University Professor Emerita currently residing in NYC where she maintains a private studio for professional musical theatre performers. She is also an adjunct voice professor in the musical theatre program at Montclair State University. In this and recent seasons, her students have been seen on Broadway in The Music Man, Wicked, Shucked, Merrily We Roll Along, Aladdin, Lion King, Pippin, The Book of Mormon, Newsies, Kinky Boots, Bandstand, A Bronx Tale, Mamma Mia, Beautiful, Beetlejuice, and Ain’t Too Proud, among others. Her own performing career spanned twenty years and included Broadway, off Broadway, regional, cabaret, film, and television credits. Graduate study took Mary to Paris in the 1970’s where she had the great good fortune to study with the renowned baritone, Pierre Bernac. She remains an unapologetic Francophile.

While at Penn State, Mary served as head of voice instruction for their newly created musical theatre program. She also created a graduate program in musical theatre voice pedagogy with colleague Norman Spivey to help meet the growing demand for voice teachers who specialise in vernacular techniques. Graduates of this program have gone on to teaching positions in the US and abroad and contribute to the profession in performance, writing, and research. Her collaboration with Spivey continued in the 2018 book “Cross Training in the Voice Studio: A Balancing Act.” She contributed Chapter 6 to the NATS publication “So You Want to Sing CCM” and is a contributing author to “A Spectrum of Voices” by Elizabeth Blades and “Training Contemporary Commercial Singers” by Elizabeth Benson. She has produced two video tutorials, Bel Canto Can Belto: Teaching Women to Sing Musical Theatre and What About the Boys?
Mary is frequently invited to present master classes and workshops at universities and voice conferences in the US and abroad. She gave a keynote musical theatre presentation in 2013 at The International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT) in Brisbane, Australia, and has served as a national mentor for New York NATS and as a master teacher for the NATS Intern Program.

In 2018, Mary was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New CCM Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University. For the past 6 years she has served as chair of the American Academy of Teachers of Singing.
https://belcantocanbelto.com/

Frequently Asked Questions

Date and Location

The conference will be held at The University of Auckland School of Music, 2-4 July 2025.

The Gala Dinner will be held at the Copthorne on Thursday 3rd July at 6.30pm. We warmly invite all conference delegates to attend the Gala Dinner; please purchase a Gala Dinner ticket when you sign up for the conference.

Sessions and Topic Details

Check out our conference timetable above. There will be a mix of presentations, teaching demonstrations, and workshops. We are excited to have sessions covering a variety of topics including vocal cross-training and teaching male singers. Across the conference we will cover genres such as Musical Theatre, Classical, and Jazz singing.
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*Presenters and presentation topics subject to change.

TICKET PRICING AND INCLUSIONS

NEWZATS Members receive a significant discounted conference price. If you are not a member, consider joining today!
Membership is just $130 a year for teachers and just $60 a year for affiliate, student or retired teachers! You can become a member here - just click HERE

Earlybird Full 3 Day Conference (NEWZATS Members): $430.00
Full 3 Day Conference (Non-Members): $620.00
Full 3 Day Conference (Full-time Students): $200.00

1 Day of Conference (NEWZATS Members): $180.00
1 Day of Conference (Non-Members): $250.00
1 Day of Conference (Full-time Students): $70.00

All Conference tickets include delicious morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea, ensuring you stay energised throughout the event.
Please note: Conference tickets do not include accommodation or Gala Dinner.
Gala Dinner Tickets are available to purchase when signing up for Conference: $90.00

Meet the Other Presenters

Zara Ballara
Born in Ōtautahi (Christchurch), Zara returned in 2012 after a 16-year career of performing and teaching in London. She started lessons aged 8 and worked her way through traditional graded classical exams in preparation for her formal studies at Victoria University, Wellington with Emily Mair, where she completed a Masters in performance voice. In 1996 she married fellow performance student Carlo Ballara, and together they headed for London. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and in 2000, won the prestigious Maggie Teyte prize. In 2002 she made her début at Wigmore Hall, London, performing ‘Encantos The Songs of Spain’ for the Company of Singers and Players. Zara has sung as a solo artist throughout the UK and Europe, but since starting a family has focused her efforts on voice teaching, both peripatetically and privately. For the past 10 years she has led the Classical Voice Programme at Canterbury University supporting all tertiary levels, encouraging and inspiring the next generation of singers. Now that her sons are older, Zara has begun two life- changing and fulfilling journeys. Firstly, pursuing a DMA. Her research is focused on reimagining 18 published waiata Māori, and building strong whakawhanaungatanga through the cross disciplinary collaborative process. As a disconnected, urban Māori, Zara has also begun her Te Ao Māori journey. She has started to address her feelings of ‘not being Māori enough', by learning tikanga, and te reo Māori. She is studying through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and finding her place through the study of waiata Māori. Her aim is to create a recital programme of beautiful waiata, to be shared with students and audiences across Aotearoa. She believes that songs are the caretakers of our stories, traditions and culture - treasured taonga which need to celebrated
and preserved.

Mark W Dorrell
Mark studied music at Cambridge University, the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London.
He was a member of the Music Staff at Scottish Opera for four years before returning to London where his first West End credit was as Assistant Conductor on INTO THE WOODS. This began his long association with Stephen Sondheim and Mark was Musical Director for the original London productions of ASSASSINS and PASSION.
His many credits as Musical Director at the National Theatre London include A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with Dame Judi Dench, OKLAHOMA ! with Hugh Jackman, PETER PAN with Sir Ian McKellen, MOTHER COURAGE, GUYS AND DOLLS, LADY IN THE DARK, CANDIDE and SWEENEY TODD.
Since relocating to New Zealand 18 years ago he has worked as Head of Music for NZ Opera, the NZ Symphony Orchestra , Capital E Theatre Company, Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Opera School, the New Zealand Singing School and the NZ School of Music, Victoria University.
He is delighted to be taking part in the NEWZATS conference again and looks forward to sharing his passion for musical theatre.

Kristina Hockey
Kristina Hockey is a voice and performing arts physiotherapist, who helps vocalists manage and prevent vocal fatigue, tension, and injury as well as general body injuries that commonly come in the life of a singer or performer. She runs Voice Physiotherapy New Zealand, a clinic that caters to the needs of performers in Christchurch with regular satellite clinics across NZ, including Auckland, Wellington, and beyond.  Kristina is currently in the final few months of her PhD at the University of Otago, where she has been looking at the role of physiotherapy in voice and throat care. She is a trained singer herself and applies her knowledge of the singing voice to treat both everyday voice users and high-performance voice users.

Chelsea Prastiti 
​Chelsea Prastiti is an improvising vocalist, composer and bandleader based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Since moving there to study at the University of Auckland jazz programme in 2009 (and returning there to teach from 2017 to 2023), she has established herself as one of the most unique and versatile improvisers in the Aotearoa music scene. Chelsea writes and improvises in many different styles; she regularly plays free and contemporary jazz, Psych-Rnb, Hip-Hop, free improvisation, Rock, Bossa Nova, traditional Balkan folk musics, and is engaged for a wide variety of session work each year. Her current personal projects include Skilaa (of which the single ‘Jenny Greenteeth’ was nominated for an APRA Silver Scroll 2024) Bonita (a Brazilian Original music project) and Leda’s Dream (a free improvising jazz project).

Rutene Spooner
Rutene, proudly connected to Ngāti Porou, Ngāruahine, and Ngāti Kahungunu heritage, set sail on his performing arts voyage post-graduation with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Musical Theatre in 2009. Since then, he's been jet-setting across continents, serenading audiences with his dynamic performances as a singer, actor, and all-around entertainer.
Among his notable performances are memorable roles in acclaimed productions such as the New Zealand premiere of Billy Elliot, the Australian Tour of Jersey Boys, and captivating portrayals in Chicago, Little Shop of Horrors (The Court Theatre), and the Australasian premiere of Jekyll & Hyde. Rutene's recent ventures include lending his voice to characters in Disney Reo Māori films like Frozen, Coco, Encanto and most recently - Kele in Moana 2. His dedication to his craft was further recognized with The Grant Tilly Actor of The Year award at the esteemed 2023 Wellington Theatre Awards. The New Zealand Herald dubbed him "a mainstay of the Auckland cabaret scene," but Rutene's charm extends far beyond the city limits. His acclaimed productions, like Super Hugh-Man and Thoroughly Modern Māui and Be Like Billy? have left audiences cheering both at home and abroad.
Outside of his performance schedule, Rutene moonlights as a creative producer, documentary director, and vocal & performance coach, enriching the arts community he loves dearly. An esteemed kaihaka of Te Kapa Haka of Whāngara-Mai-Tawhiti, a cherished member of the Modern Māori Quartet, and a dedicated union member of the New Zealand Actors Equity, Rutene stands as a humble yet influential figure, enriching both the stage and the cultural landscape of Aotearoa.

Dr Jenny Wollerman
​Dr Jenny Wollerman is Head of Classical Performance, Voice, at the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī and is Associate Dean for Learning, Teaching and Equity for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington. 

She completed her Master of Music in Opera at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and her PhD in Musicology at Victoria University of Wellington. Her scholarly work includes a presentation of her research at the 4th Performance Studies Network conference at Bath Spa, England, and her book chapter ‘Shaping Traditions of Vocality: The Lyrical Legacy of Kiri Te Kanawa’, which was published in Searches for Tradition: Essays on New Zealand Music, Past & Present in 2017.

​She is a widely experienced performer and singing teacher and lectures on voice and singing related topics at university level, as well as supervising Masters and doctoral students. She is one of New Zealand’s best known classical sopranos and has been a soloist with all the major arts organisations within New Zealand. Her performances in Australia have included Lutoslawski’s Chantefleurs et Chantefables with Tasmanian Symphony and Ravel’s Shéhérazade song cycle with the West Australian and Adelaide Symphony orchestras. Noted for her expressive interpretations of new works, she has premiered numerous compositions including Anthony Ritchie’s Stations: Symphony No. 4  which was nominated for MusicWeb International’s ‘2014 Recording of the Year’. Other album recordings include the song recital Between Darkness and Light with pianist Michael Houstoun, and Making Light of Time, songs by Ross Harris and Vincent O’Sullivan, with pianist Jian Liu and the New Zealand String Quartet. Other notable performances include Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 at Adam Chamber Music Festival, Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 and Abiding Tides with the New Zealand String Quartet, Fragments from Wozzeck and Woglinde in Das Rheingold with the Auckland Philharmonia, Ross Harris’s The Floating Bride, the Crimson Village with pianist Piers Lane and in the orchestral version with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and Jane in Jenny McLeod’s opera Hohepa for NZ Opera and NZ Festival of the Arts. 

Many of her students have gone on to successful careers as professional singers, academics and teachers, or to sing professionally alongside other careers. Former students include: Professor Madeleine Pierard, Director of Te Pae Kōkako TANZOS New Zealand Opera Studio at Waikato University and professional soprano in the UK and NZ; Dr Xingxing Wang, Associate Professor of singing at Changshu Institute of Technology in China; Thomas Atkins, tenor soloist performing throughout Europe and the UK, Pasquale Orchard, soprano, who made her debut as Lauretta alongside Bryn Terfel in 2024 and is currently based at Opera North, UK, and Bridget Costello, who has performed Christine in Phantom of the Opera in the West End and Australia. 

Her major project, 21x21 Beneath the Trees, funded by Te Herenga Waka Victoria University involved commissioning 21 female composers from Aotearoa New Zealand to write a song each, which she premiered with pianist Jian Liu as part of the Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts in 2022 and released as a CD album on the Atoll label in 2023. All the songs have also been published by Waiteata Music Press for individual download or as the complete collection and the recordings are broadcast frequently on Radio NZ. She is currently working towards the release of a recording of Jenny McLeod’s major song cycle Under Southern Skies which she premiered with Jian Liu at the Adam International Chamber Music Festival in Nelson in 2024.