Office Bearers

Marianne Rigby is a conductor, voice teacher, clinician and adjudicator and is committed to advancing choral music in Australia through her work with ANCA. A graduate of the University of Melbourne in Music and QUT in Drama and Education, Marianne has conducted children’s, youth and community choirs from rural Queensland to Brisbane, Melbourne, the UAE and France. Marianne is a graduate of the AICD, has sat on boards and committees for over ten years and is a past president of ANCA Vic/Tas. Marianne continues her work on National Council as the current Vice President and plans to build communication with members and support for chapters as they deliver exciting professional development and choral singing opportunities to ANCA members and the wider choral community.

It is the responsibility of the Council Treasurer of the Association to ensure that;

• All money due to the Association is collected and received and that all payments authorised by the Association are made and,
• correct books and accounts are kept showing the financial affairs of the Association, including full details of all receipts and expenditure connected with the activities of the Association.
• A statement of ANCA's financial affairs is presented to the Council on a regular basis, the timing to be determined by the Council

Tim brings to the role a background in consulting engineering, business leadership and governance, community singing, performance, organising choir and independent music festivals and a belief that community singing is a social good that is vital to the health of our community.

My primary interest in participating in National Council is to support all efforts to enable ANCA to realise its purpose as the peak body for the choral community and achieve a financially sustainable platform upon which to deliver the support services that the sector requires to enhance the standing of and participation in group singing across Australia.

 

Dr Naomi Cooper is a freelance choral conductor. She holds a PhD in music for her thesis on directing community choirs and has presented this research nationally and internationally. She has conducted primary and secondary school choirs in public, private and diocesan Catholic schools, and currently leads ensembles at the International Grammar School Sydney and Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College. 

Some of her current community choir projects include the national Estonian-Australian choir Kooskõlas who performed at a large song festival in Estonia in 2019, ParkinSong (a choir for people with Parkinson’s disease and their carers), New Day Carers Choir (for people caring for loved ones with lived experience of mental illness), Sydney Alterna Choir and Northside Community Choir.

Naomi works as a sessional academic at Macquarie University where she teaches vocal studies. She also runs a busy studio teaching classical and contemporary guitar. Naomi also serves on the National Council for ANATS, as NSW Chapter Treasurer for ANATS and as Vice-President of Kodály NSW. 

Sharon Batterham is a choral music and vocal specialist, with several years’ experience as a soloist, chorister and conductor. She completed tertiary music studies at the University of Melbourne, with a Bachelor of Music, in composition and voice, and a Bachelor of Music Education. Sharon studied voice with Kevin Casey and Hartley Newnham, and performed regularly with the Faculty of Music Choir and Chamber Singers.

As a child Sharon sang with the Australian Children's Choir, and performed at several venues throughout Melbourne, regional Victoria and South Australia. Sharon participated in the ACC’s first international tours to Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and worked with various conductors and musical groups during that time. Sharon has also sung with the Royal Philharmonic Choir, Faye Dumont Singers, CHIME Choir and the Australian Youth Choir.

Conducting became a particular interest when Sharon commenced tutoring the training groups of the Victorian Boys' Choir, and she continued developing this area with positions in the Australian Girls' Choir and the CHIME Choirs. Training in choral pedagogy followed, under Rodney Eichenberger, Andre de Quadros and Doreen Rao, and Sharon was selected from conductors around the world to attend the 3rd Choral Symposium held by the Toronto Children’s Chorus under Jean Ashworth-Bartle.

After a break to raise her family, Sharon is now the Music Director of Southern Voices. She is in demand as a presenter at choral workshops for all age groups, and is developing a conductor and accompanist education program within the structure of Southern Voices. Sharon is the Director of Cantabella, the senior choir of Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College; she teaches voice at Killester College and Our Lady of Sacred Heart Bentleigh, and is on the committee of the Australian National Choral Association’s Victoria/Tasmania branch.

DR. ANDREW FOOTE

In a professional concert and operatic career spanning 40 years, Andrew performed more than 30 operatic roles for professional companies throughout Australia, and is a Helpmann Award winner.  As recitalist, oratorio soloist, recording artist, crossover cabaret artist, opera principal, and opera director, he consistently drew superb accolades.  He is Chorus Director of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and Chair of Vocal Studies at the University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music, where he teaches voice, directs the Symphonic Chorus and chamber choirs, and passes on his experience to the next generation of musicians.