The Big Sing Regional Adjudicators 2024

1 February 2024

We're delighted to announce this year's line up of adjudicators for The Big Sing Regionals...

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Shawn Condon
Canterbury-West Coast | Manawatu-Whanganui | Nelson-Marlborough

Shawn Condon is a Wellington-based conductor, music educator, and researcher. He was appointed Musical Director of the Bach Choir of Wellington in 2018 and sings tenor in Nota Bene, a Wellington-based chamber choir.
Shawn holds a BA in Music Education (College of New Jersey, USA) with a concentration in choral conducting and piano performance and an MA in Music, Mind, and Technology (University of Jyväskylä, Finland).

Before settling in NZ, he taught both intermediate and secondary vocal/choral music and music theory, and has appeared as guest conductor for primary, intermediate, and secondary school honour choirs. He was Principal Accompanist of the Princeton GirlChoir, repetiteur at the Academy of Dramatic Arts (New York City), and Assistant Conductor of Chamber Choir Cantinovum at the Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences.
Shawn currently teaches at Massey University (Wellington) where his research interests include emotional expressivity in musical performance, communication of emotions, and the effect of culture on communication and expressivity.

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Anthony Ritchie
Auckland | Waikato-Bay of Plenty | Taranaki

Anthony Ritchie is a renowned composer whose works have been performed by ensembles such as The Takacs Quartet, and soloists such as Bella Hristhova. In 2016 he was joint winner of The NZ Classical Album of the Year, and in 2018 his oratorio ‘Gallipoli to the Somme’ was performed in London and Oxford and later voted Aotearoa’s most popular classical music recording in RNZ Concert’s ‘Settling the Score’.

Anthony was Composer-in-Schools in Christchurch 1987, Mozart Fellow at Otago University in 1988-9, and Composer-in-Residence with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra 1993-4. He was also a founder member of the National Youth Choir and conducted the Southern Youth Choir and Southern Children Choir.
He is Professor of Music at The University of Otago in Dunedin, and Head of the School of Performing Arts. This is his third appearance as adjudicator for The Big Sing.

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Rosemary Turnbull
Wellington | East Coast | Otago-South Canterbury | Southland

Rosemary Turnbull is an accomplished musician who has made significant contributions to the music community. She completed her music degree, diploma of teaching, and LTCL piano in Christchurch. In Wellington, Rosemary taught secondary school music and performed as a soloist and chorister for five years. She then pursued further vocal training overseas as a recipient of a Belgian post-graduate fellowship.

Returning to New Zealand, Rosemary performed as a soloist with major choirs nationwide, and presented numerous recitals. For over 20 years, she worked in Christchurch as a vocal itinerant in several secondary schools, establishing choirs in all of them. Rosemary also directed adult choirs including the Hagley Singers and Cecilian Singers and has led various choirs to perform in Italy.

Rosemary's expertise has been recognized through roles as a vocal tutor for NZSSC, a regional Big Sing adjudicator, and a NZCF Governance Board member. She has also worked as an Assessor with Creative New Zealand and Vocal Consultant with Voices NZ and New Zealand Youth Choir. Today, she continues to inspire through private teaching and vocal consultancy.

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