International Keynote Speaker: Mary Saunders-Barton (USA)
Mary's Bio
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/
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
We look forward to releasing our conference timetable soon. 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.
TICKET PRICING AND INCLUSIONS