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2024 Joanna Foote
2024 Joanna Foote
Soprano Joanna Foote holds a Master’s in Music from UCLA and a Bachelor of Music from The University of Auckland. Career highlights include Graham Vick’s production of Death in Venice by Benjamin Britten at Deutsche Oper, and Rose Maurrant in The Opera Group’s award-winning production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, appearing at the London Young Vic, Paris Châtelet and Barcelona Liçeu with the BBC Concert Orchestra. She made her début with NZOpera singing Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro in 2021.
Roles in the USA included Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro, Nannetta/Falstaff, Monica/The Medium, Belinda/Dido & Aeneas, Polly/Threepenny Opera, and Julie Jordon/Carousel with acclaimed directors Peter Kazaras and James Darrah at UCLA.
At the culmination of her formal studies Joanna joined the Seattle Young Artist Program as a guest singing Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, appeared in an Offenbach review with Opéra Français de New York at the Slipper Room Burlesque Club and was featured in the BBC Documentary What makes a great soprano? with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
She toured Europe extensively in roles such as Marie/La fille du Regiment, Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro, Despina/Cosi Fan Tutte, and Zerlina/Don Giovanni, Adina/L’elisir d’amore, and Nannetta/Falstaff.
Joanna earned full scholarships to attend the Chautauqua Institution Summer Academy for two consecutive summers, going on to the finals of the McDonald’s Aria Competition at the Sydney Opera House and winning the Otago Daily Times Aria Competition in New Zealand.
On full scholarship she attended the Solti/Te Kanawa Accadamia in Italy with tutors such as Richard Bonynge and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Moving to London she received a Solti Foundation Grant, attended the Academy of French Song and Opera in Toulouse, was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Award at Wigmore Hall and is a Samling Scholar.
2025 Rachel Fuller
2025 Rachel Fuller
Rachel Fuller, ARAM, M.Mus(RAM) studied piano in Christchurch with Rosemary Miller Stott and then with Dierdre Irons at the University of Canterbury, as well as cello with Alexander Ivashkin. She went on to gain her Masters in Piano Accompaniment from the Royal Academy of Music in London. Rachel lived in London for 18 years, building her career in the UK and Europe as a vocal accompanist, répétiteur, vocal coach and piano teacher. Rachel has worked at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, at Opera Kristiansund and Opera Nordfjord in Norway and also with leading British opera companies. She has accompanied some of the world’s finest singers, including tenor Keith Lewis. She has been a regular accompanist and coach for the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.
Rachel is currently a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland where she teaches piano, collaborative piano and chamber music, is a vocal coach and collaborative pianist. As an accomplished chamber musician and cellist, she has collaborated with numerous instrumentalists and toured many times for Chamber Music NZ and performed with the NZSO. Rachel regularly performs with Voices NZ Chamber Choir and has been Chorus Director for the CSO’s Symphonic Chorus in 2023 (Carmina Burana) and 2024 (Fauré Requiem). Rachel is the Director of the NZ Voice Programme and was the adjudicator of the National Concerto Competition (piano) 2024/25.
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