2025 Cadenza & Final Adjudicators

2 May 2025

With The Big Sing regionals approaching and many choirs setting their sights on selection for our area Cadenza festivals and National Finale, we're delighted to announce our Cadenza and Finale adjudicators.

Cadenza Adjudicator

Dr Morag Atchison is a Senior Lecturer in Voice at the University of Auckland, and vocal consultant for the award-winning New Zealand Youth Choir and the Auckland Chamber Choir. In 2013 Morag was awarded a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Auckland, the first DMA in vocal studies from a New Zealand University. In 2023 Morag was a Big Sing Regional Judge and is delighted to be returning as the adjudicator for Cadenza 2025. 

Morag studied at the University of Auckland and Royal Academy of Music (London) and has established herself as one of NZ’s leading sopranos and pedagogues. She has performed operatic roles with NZ Opera, NZSO, APO, and English Touring Opera and has performed widely in concert performances. Morag was a soloist on the soundtrack for the motion picture Mortal Engines in 2018 and her debut CD The Distance: Songs of David Hamilton (Atoll) was released in 2022. She is a member of Voices New Zealand and will be singing with them on their European tour later this year.

Finale Adjudicators

Dr Debra Shearer-Dirié is a musical trailblazer. Her career spans continents, from earning a Doctor of Music at Indiana University to leading prestigious ensembles as a renowned conductor and director. Now based in Brisbane, Debra maintains an active career in choral conducting, music education and as a clinician and scholar. She has been Music Director for ChoirWorks since 2005. Debra is also founder and Musical Director of fusion and conductor of Vintage Voices.

Debra has lectured at the Queensland Conservatorium, the University of Queensland School of Music, and the Australian Catholic University. She has been a contributing writer, reviewer, and has stood on the editorial board for the International Federation for Choral Music’s International Choral Magazine and is a past-president of the Australian National Choral Association. Debra remains in demand as an adjudicator, clinician and conductor for festivals and eisteddfods throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. In 2024 Debra was one of three Australian choral conductors to participate on the International Jury for the World Choir Games in Auckland.

 

 Fepulea'i Helen Tupai is the Music Director and founder of the renowned Signature Choir. With over 40 years of experience composing, teaching and performing, her music is performed by groups all over the world. She is the creative director and visionary behind the critically acclaimed Mana Moana project, a historic partnership between Signature Choir and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO), which has sold out shows at NZ’s most prestigious concert venues, including Spark Arena (Auckland) and Michael Fowler Centre (Wellington). Formed in December 2018, Signature Choir's mission is to promote Pacific language and culture through performing Pacific music in new and reimagined ways. Helen was one of the organisers and judges of the Musika Moana Choir Competition held in 2024.

 

Peter Watts trained initially in the UK but came to New Zealand after finishing University study. He has always been active in choral music, having sung in Cambridge University Musical Society as a student and then in the Dorian Choir when he settled in NZ. For 20 years Peter was Music Director of Auckland Choral Society, conducting a wide range of programmes and working with leading soloists and orchestras. Peter has commissioned many works from NZ composers in addition to presenting more traditional choral fare. He has been Assistant Conductor of the NZ Youth Choir and has participated in NZCF in many roles. In 2005 he was awarded MNZM for services to choral music. ​ 

Peter is also an accomplished pianist and enjoys accompanying, coaching, chamber music making and adjudicating. Peter taught harmony and musicology at Auckland University and has travelled extensively as a music examiner for Trinity College, London. He is currently Director of Choirs at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland.
 

Kelly-Ann Tahitahi - Adjudicator for the Auahi Kore Award
Kei aku nui, kei aku rahi. Mokori anō kia rere ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa. Ko Kelly-ann Tahitahi tōku ingoa. He uri ahau nō ngā iwi o Te Aupōuri, o Te Rarawa, o Ngāpuhi, o Waikato. Ko ahau te Kaitiaki Matua o Hākena, ki Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.

Kelly Ann Tahitahi is the Hocken Librarian at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka and an educator deeply immersed in Māori language and culture. As a committed performer and tutor, she has a long history with kapa haka and led her team, Te Kapa o Rukutia to the Waitaha Competitions for the first time in 2023. She has mentored and tutored students at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka through performance papers, kapa haka and waiata composition.

Through her varied mahi with language revitalisation, cultural advocacy and waiata composition, Kelly Ann Tahitahi exemplifies aroha for te ao Māori along with a dedication to nurturing both tradition and innovation.

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