Sing Aotearoa

2026 Sing Aotearoa International Guest Conductor & Presenter

Internationally acclaimed South African conductor, educator, composer, and choral clinician Michael Joseph Barrett will be our International Guest Conductor at Sing Aotearoa 2026.

Dr Michael Barrett was the conductor of the University of Pretoria (TUKS) Camerata and a full-time faculty member in choral conducting at the University of Pretoria's Department of Music from 2013-2025. As the conductor of the TUKS Camerata, an 80-voice choir consisting of full-time students from diverse academic fields, Michael led the group to great success, including winning the prestigious Grand Prix of Nations for Best Mixed Youth Choir in Riga, Latvia, in both 2014 and 2017. The Camerata also performed at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain (2017), and recorded six critically acclaimed albums. Their 2022 tour of the United Kingdom included a performance with the renowned vocal ensemble Voces8 and in March 2025, the Camerata performed as a Headline Choir at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conference in Dallas, Texas.

Michael has conducted and presented workshops in the United Kingdom, USA, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Russia, and South Korea. In April 2026, he will make his debut at Carnegie Hall, marking a significant milestone in his career. Recent international engagements include conducting the Texas All-State Choir (2024), the Missouri All-State Choir (2022), and the Florida ACDA High School Honor Choir (2019). He has held university residencies at Missouri State University, Texas State University, San Jose State University, and the University of Washington, among others. Michael is also a passionate advocate for collaboration and regularly works with high school festivals and university programmes in the United States, Europe and Asia. 

As a composer and arranger, Michael has over 40 works published by Santa Barbara Music Publishers and Walton Music (USA). He has been recognised by the National Research Foundation of South Africa for his contributions to South African Choral Music Research. Michael also serves as the Executive Director and Co-Producer of Capital Singers, South Africa's largest community choir project. Michael was recently in New Zealand as a juror for the 2024 World Choir Games.

Click here to watch the TUKS Camerata, conducted by Michael Barrett, singing the traditional IsiXhosa song Indodana, arranged by Michael Barrett and Ralf Schmitt - the same arrangement featured in the film Tinā!

International Guest Presenter

Rachel Weston was an inaugural member of the NZ Youth Choir and, while still a student, was a finalist in the Mobil Song Quest. She was selected to represent New Zealand in the World Chorus at the Calgary Winter Olympics and was chosen to sing the solo opening of the theme song at the Opening Ceremony to a live audience of 40,000 and a TV audience of 2 billion people. She was a member of the celebrated Swingle Singers for four years, working as their MD for two years and giving concerts in 25 countries.

As a soloist, Rachel has performed with the Hallé and BBC Symphony Orchestras, and with the quartet Synergy Vocals, she has collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, performing in  major venues throughout Europe and the United States including London’s Royal Festival Hall and Barbican, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie Paris, Disney Hall and Carnegie Hall.

In the recording studio, Rachel has sung on the soundtracks of over 100 movies, including Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Shrek, Moulin Rouge, Transformers, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and Nanny McPhee. She has contributed to more than 50 studio albums, made by a diverse range of artists and bands including Björk, Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton, and has recorded a solo album called gentle rain, featuring standards by Gershwin, Porter and Berlin as well as ballads by Michel Legrand, Billy Joel and others.

Rachel will be touring NZ in October with her solo singer-pianist show, and is also currently a conductor and trainer for the Muswell Hill Popchoir in North London.