Music Director: Andrew Withington 

M Mus (Hons) [Auckland], MusB (Hons) [Canterbury], ATCL, GDipT

Andrew began his career in choral conducting when he was appointed Musical Director of the Christchurch Boys’ Choir in 1997. During his time as Director, he led the Choir on a very successful overseas tour to Kurashiki, Japan.

In 2000, as Senior Scholar in Music at the University of Canterbury, he completed a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours Degree majoring in conducting children’s choirs, orchestration and analysis, and was awarded the prestigious Vernon Griffith’s Prize for Outstanding Musical Leadership.

After three years teaching, he moved to Auckland and gained a Master of Music with First Class Honours Degree in Performance Choral Conducting, studying with Associate Professor, Dr. Karen Grylls. During his Master’s programme, he majored in conducting secondary and tertiary choirs, and represented New Zealand in a masterclass at the World Choral Symposium in Kyoto, Japan. During his time in Auckland, he was also Choirmaster at King’s Preparatory School and Assistant Conductor of Key Cygnetures at Westlake Girls’ High School.

In Christchurch, Andrew has had a long association with the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival where he has been the conductor of both the Junior and Senior Representative Choirs – choirs comprising 100 students auditioned from the Canterbury region. He is currently responsible for conducting the 1000-voice Massed Choir combined with the 100-piece Orchestra.

From 2003 to 2006, Andrew was the Assistant Musical Director for Elise Bradley. In August 2008, Andrew was appointed Musical Director of the prestigious New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir. Under his direction, the Choir has performed concerts in Palmerston North, Christchurch, Wellington, Hastings and Auckland. In July 2010, he led the Choir on a very successful tour to Canada. At the Kathaumixw competition, the Choir received ‘The People’s Choice Award’, first place in the adult mixed choir competition, second place in the youth choir competition, and second place in the folk and cultural tradition competition. .

Currently, Andrew teaches in the tertiary sector at the New Zealand Graduate School of Education, a teacher training institution for graduates. Before this, he taught high ability classes at Cobham Intermediate School where he was also Head of Music and Director of the Chorale and Chamber Orchestra.

Andrew has sung Tenor in Voices New Zealand (New Zealand’s leading Chamber Choir), and in the New Zealand Youth Choir. He is in high demand as a choral adjudicator and clinician, and has been involved as a tutor at the International Summer School in Choral Conducting.

Accompanist: Grant Bartley

BA (Hons), ATCL (Piano), Dip Tchng

Grant studied Music at Canterbury University completing an Honours degree in Music Education, Baroque Performance Practice and Musicology in 2003. He then completed his teacher training in 2004 at the New Zealand Graduate School of Education before taking up the position of Assistant Head of Music at Cashmere High School in Christchurch.

Grant also spent eight years as Assistant Director of Music and Organist at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, before recently accepting the appointment of Director of Music at St Mary’s in the City. In his time at the Cathedral he performed extensively as organist, harpsichordist and singer with the Cathedral’s Choir and Orchestra as well as conducting both of these groups.

In his position at Cashmere High School he is part of a team that has built an extensive curricular and extra-curricular music programme. Grant teaches all levels of secondary music from Yr 9 to Yr 13 and in addition to conducting the Orchestra, Concert Band and Chamber Choir he also works with and supports numerous other groups in the department. He has led as many as 70 students on music tours throughout New Zealand and Australia and has been Musical Director for all musical productions at the school since his arrival.

As a conductor, organist and pianist he has performed or worked with many groups in Christchurch including the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Youth Orchestra, Garden City Orchestra, Christchurch City Choir, CSM Sinfonia, Jubilate Singers, and Addington Brass Band etc. He is also the conductor for the Christchurch Primary School Music Festival Concert Band and Accompanist for the Festivals Senior Special Choir.

Grant is sought after as an accompanist working with many instrumental and vocal soloists and as an organ soloist in his own right throughout New Zealand and Australia. He has been the Accompanist for the New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir since 2009.

Vocal Consultant: Morag Atchison
BMus (Hons), LRAM, PGDipPerf (Opera), DipRAM

Morag began her studies at the University of Auckland with the late Beatrice Webster MBE and then went on to postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London with Alison Pearce and Antony Saunders.  She is the winner of an ABRSM PG Scholarship and the Madeline Finden Award, a Samling Scholar, the recipient of a Creative NZ grant, finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition and a prize winner in the Royal Over-Seas League’s International Music Competition 

Operatic roles include First Lady, Magic Flute (NBR NZ Opera); Blumenmädchen, Parsifal (NZSO, International Festival of the Arts); Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni with Sir Colin Davis (London Royal Schools’ Opera); Annina, La Traviata (English Touring Opera); La Ciesca, Gianni Schicchi (Aspen Festival, USA); Le Feu, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Limburgs Symphonie Orkest, The Netherlands) and most recently Sandrina in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera at the Hamilton Gardens Festival for Opera Unleashed. 

In 2010 she will sing the role of Lady-in-waiting in Verdi’s Macbeth for NBR NZ Opera and is the Fourth Maid in the APO’s concert performance of Strauss’ Elektra.

Recent concert engagements include Beethoven’s concert aria Ah! perfido with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the Manukau Symphony Orchestra; Missa Pacifica, Hamilton (World Premiere), Carmina Burana, and Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Auckland Choral); a Mozart concert with The Orpheus Choir and Wellington Sinfonia; Handel Arias with AK Barok; Brahms Requiem, Elijah, St. Matthew Passion & Easter Oratorio (Bach Musica); Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (London & Aspen); Vivaldi Gloria with Sir David Willcocks (Royal Albert Hall and Venice); Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s 8th Symphony (RAH); Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man with the Christchurch City Choir; the world premier of Peter Scholes’s Requiem (Auckland Chamber Orchestra); a soloist in a concert for St. Patrick’s Cathedral with Angela Brown, Simon O’Neil and the APO, is regularly heard in recital around NZ, and on Christmas Day 2005 she was the soloist in The First Communion broadcast live on TV One from Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.  

Morag teaches voice at the University of Auckland, is a vocal tutor for the NZ Youth Choir; the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir and Auckland Chamber Choir, and is a sought-after tutor for vocal and choral workshops around the country. She is also working towards her Doctorate in Musical Arts at the University of Auckland.

Vocal Consultant: Kate Spence

M Mus (Dist.), PGDipPerf (Opera & Vocal Studies), FTCL