Introducing our Regional Representatives

3 Apr 2025

We're delighted to introduce the ten Regional Representatives who will serve on NZCF's National Advisory Council for 2025. These Regional Reps will act as liaisons between choirs and singing groups in their regions, fostering a strong and connected choral community across Aotearoa.

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Auckland — Penny Christiansen

From my childhood singing in an English village church, through secondary schools’ competitions with David Hamilton’s EGGS “Opus 15”, to John Rosser’s “Viva Voce”, choirs have been a constant part of my life. Indeed life changing, as I met my husband while singing in the Auckland Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir! Choral singing is an international passport to new friendships and opportunities, and when living in the USA we both supported local church choirs in Rochester and Charlottesville, whilst also performing and travelling with Virginia-based early music choir “Zephyrus”.

As a professional pianist I am more often at the piano now and I am a regular violinist with the St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra. But singing remains a family affair, with both my daughters singing in choirs from their early years at school. My older daughter was a member of the 2023-24 NZSSC and my younger daughter is a current member of Aotearoa Academy Choir. We have come in a full circle, and all of us now sing with the Auckland Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir.

Waikato-Bay of Plenty — Jenny Lewy

Jenny has been involved with choirs for the past three decades in countries as wide-ranging as her native Bermuda, Canada and the UK. She is passionate about promoting community choirs and is an active member of the Rotorua District Choir.

Since 2022, Jenny has been the coordinator for the Upper North Island Cadenza. She has also been the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Regional Chairperson for the past two years. Her highlight of this time was coordinating the “From the World to WAI-BOP” event which featured choirs from five continents including some homegrown Kiwi choirs from across the region. Jenny has degrees in Stage Management & Technical Theatre, Mathematics & Statistics and Secondary Teaching. She lives in Rotorua with her husband and three small children.

East Coast — Chris Atkinson

Chris has been involved in choirs since he was a boy and studied voice and cello at the University of Huddersfield. He has been a music teacher in Hawkes Bay for over twenty years and currently teaches at Napier Girls’ High School, where he conducts the choirs Ad Lucem and Ngā Ihi o te Rā.

Musical theatre is also one of Chris's passions and he has been musical director of several productions with Napier Operatic Society.

Chris is a member of local choir Octavius and he is excited to take up the new role of NZCF Representative for the East Coast.

 

Manawatū-Whanganui — Nigel Tongs

Nigel has contributed to choral singing in Manawatū since joining the Manawatū Youth Choir in 1988 and the Renaissance Singers in 1991.  He became a member of the NZ Youth Choir in 1991 and Voices NZ in 1998. A primary school teacher and associate principal, Nigel conducts children's choirs, the Manawatū training orchestra and jazz ensemble, and he directs the Out-of-hours-music-and-arts programme in Palmerston North.  Nigel is a tenor soloist, performing with choirs in Hastings, Whanganui and most recently in Blenheim.  

Nigel says: "To me, singing is the language of the soul. The more we can help our community, especially children, discover the richness of the singing experience, the more it will become a life-long celebration of our heritage, our identity and our legacy for future generations."

Taranaki — Nikki Truman

Nikki has sung in choirs for over 40 years and has been involved in NZCF choirs since she moved to Taranaki in 1993. She has sung in several New Plymouth choirs and is currently a member of New Plymouth City Sounds where she has held various committee roles since 2012, including President for six years. She understands the workings of NZCF, having been a past Secretary of the Taranaki Branch for three years, and has been part of the coordination of SingFest, The Kids Sing and The Big Sing on several occasions.

Nikki is currently employed at the New Plymouth Polytechnic (WITT) in the role of Career Advisor. She will bring her 24 years of experience in advocacy, communication, and collaboration to her role as the Regional Representative for Taranaki.

Wellington — Jane McKinlay

To introduce myself is to thank all the music directors over the past 40 or so years. My first choir was at school in Dunedin where I was hooked by Britten's A Ceremony of Carols. Then followed the Dunedin Youth Choir with Richard Madden and Ray White, Tone’s Tones with Tony Sandle, the New Zealand Youth Choir with Prof Godfrey and Karen Grylls, The Tudor Consort firstly with Simon Ravens then Peter Walls, Ivan Patterson, Alastair Carey and currently Michael Stewart, The Edinburgh Renaissance singers, Sacred Heart Cathedral Choir with Peter de Blois then Thomas Wilson, Michael Fletcher and Nicky Sutherland, Voices NZ with Karen Grylls, Wellington Community Choir with Julian Raphael and Carol Shortis, Number 9 with Richard Taylor, Nota Bene with Christine Argyle, Baroque Voices with Pepe Becker and The Doubtful Sounds with Bryan Crump. I owe them the hugest debt of gratitude.

My other life is as a kaiako, currently with preschoolers who love to sing. I am so pleased to be able to work with our current vibrant choral community in this role.

Nelson/Marlborough — Lucy Rainey

Lucy is a music educator and promoter of NZCF events with a passion for making connections across all of the choral communities in the Nelson-Marlborough region. She was Chair of NZCF Nelson-Marlborough for several years, and was previously a member of the Wellington NZCF committee where she initiated the inaugural The Kids Sing in Wellington in 2016.

Lucy's musical experience includes working as a professional musician, a musical director, an instrumental/vocal tutor and a classroom teacher of Music, French, English and ESOL. She currently sings in the soprano section of the Nelson Civic Choir and performs regularly in wind quintets, clarinet ensembles and jazz bands as a clarinettist. She is an accredited tutor of individuals, classes and ensembles at the NCMA and runs vocal workshops for choral singers and school music specialists.

Canterbury/West Coast — Jared Corbett

Jared is a choral director, choral singer, and part-time medical doctor, with a background in vocology and Kodály music education. Alongside his medical training, he has pursued a career in music, studying piano with Professor Terence Dennis at the University of Otago, accompanying and then directing the Wellington Youth Choir, then studying choral conducting with Dr Karen Grylls at the University of Auckland while directing the choirs at Saint Kentigern College.

Since relocating to Christchurch, Jared has been a conducting intern for the Korokoro Tūī Ngāi Tahu choir project, Assistant Director of Epiphony choir directed by Naomi Hnat, director of The Cecilian Singers, and is currently the director of the Christchurch Youth Choir and the senior choir at St Andrew’s College. He has been a member of the Canterbury-West Coast Committee since 2022 and the Association of Choral Directors Committee since 2024. Jared is a member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir and an alumnus of the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir, the NZ Youth Choir, and the University of Otago Capping Sextet.

Otago — Ben Madden

Ben Madden is a proudly born-and-bred Dunedin tenor, choir director and music teacher. He has worked with the New Zealand Choral Federation as a mentor for primary school singing leaders as part of their Singing Matters programme, and is pleased to be able to help facilitate growth for choral singing in and around Ōtepoti. Benjamin is an alumnus of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir (NZSSC), the New Zealand Youth Choir, and a current member of Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir. He is the Assistant Music Director and Vocal Consultant for NZSSC.

Ben trained in Dunedin as a tenor with Pat Scally-Richardson and Judy Bellingham. He has worked as a choral director and private singing teacher in Dunedin since 2014. Having recently trained as a primary teacher, Ben is now a music and performing arts specialist at Abbotsford and Mornington Schools. Outside of school, he is Music Director for The Kids Sing in Dunedin and Music Director of the newly formed Ōtepoti Educators Choir.

Southland — Christine McLeod

Christine has sung in choirs all her life and is the current Musical Director of A Capella Singers in Invercargill (taking over from NZCF legend Di Lenihan).

She sang in the Southland Youth Choir, Southland Choral Society,  A Capella Singers and recently was a guest singer with the Octagon Ensemble in Dunedin. She is a current member of Voices New Zealand’s Voices 60 ensemble.

Christine was the Chair of NZCF Southland for 11 years prior to becoming Regional Representative for Southland.

 

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