Elise Bradley, MNZM

A passionate musician, award-winning conductor, and internationally respected educator, adjudicator and clinician, Elise Bradley served for many years as the HOD Music at Westlake Girls’ High School in Auckland, New Zealand, where she founded the school’s internationally renowned choir, Key Cygnetures. She directed the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir from 2001-2007, which won numerous national and international awards. She was also a soloist and member of New Zealand’s National Chamber Choir, Voices New Zealand from 1998 – 2010. In January 2018, Ms. Bradley was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), an honour awarded in recognition of her services to Music, and just recently in March 2025 it was announced that she is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal in honour of her services to children’s music education in Canada.

Elise repatriated home to New Zealand at the end of 2021, after 14½ years as the Artistic Director of the Toronto Children’s Chorus. During her tenure, the Chorus recorded professionally, commissioned Canadian compositions, collaborated with numerous international and national artists, and represented Toronto and Canada on nine international and four national tours. Ms. Bradley has also received many invitations to conduct, adjudicate choirs, and present at conferences around the globe. Since her return to New Zealand, Elise has co-founded the company “Choral DirectioNZ” and the New Zealand Children’s Choral Academy, and has completed a number of Kodály Music Certificates for her return to the primary music classroom. She currently co-conducts Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand’s Aotearoa Academy Choir, is the Music Director of the NZCCA Senior Choir and Takapuna Grammar School’s Leonessa, all of which won gold awards at the World Choir Games 2024 in Auckland. She is also the Music Director of the Hamilton Civic Choir, Nota Bella Junior Choir at Westlake Girls’ High School, and the Ficino Primary Choirs.

Francis Cowan

Francis Cowan studied piano with Ruby Campbell and then Judith Clark at Victoria University. Following completion of his degree in Piano Performance, he trained at Wellington Teachers College where he continued to major in music.

Francis was appointed Director of Music at St Mark’s Church School in 1989.

In 1994, Francis moved to Hamilton inspired by the respected tradition of music at Southwell School. At Southwell, he trained the Boys’ Choir to international standards and devoted himself to achieving the highest possible level in all aspects of the annual Opera. This included designing and painting the sets and overseeing the artistic direction.

In 2009, Francis was appointed Director of Music at St Paul’s Collegiate School expanding his teaching experience into senior Cambridge and NCEA classes.

Following two years splitting time between St Paul’s Collegiate as Director of Vocal Performance and Norah Howell Fellow Piano Accompanist for the University of Waikato, Francis was appointed as full time Head of Collaborative Piano at the University in 2015. He has enjoyed a busy schedule of coaching and accompaniment for voice and instrumental students. He re-joined the team of pianists for the New Zealand Opera School in 2021, and re-joined Hamilton Civic Choir as collaborative pianist in 2025.

Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco

The Young Women’s Choral Projects (YWCP) of San Francisco transforms the lives of young women through exceptional artistry in choral performance and brings the expressive power of their music to the community, the nation, and the world. Founded in 2012 by Dr. Susan McMane, and now led by Artistic Director Dr. Matthew Otto, YWCP includes six levels of choral experience for young women ages 4-18 from across the San Francisco Bay Area. Through YWCP, participants of richly diverse socio-ethnic backgrounds find their voices as singers, artists, and women in a nurturing environment that empowers them to achieve artistic and personal excellence.

The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco is the premier ensemble of the Young Women’s Choral Projects of San Francisco. The Chorus is comprised of singers ages 12-18, and has been praised for its beauty of sound, stellar musicianship, and dynamic programming. Acclaimed in the American Record Guide for its “refined and beautifully controlled singing,” the Young Women’s Chorus has also won many competitive, national awards including the American Prize in Choral Performance; the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America and American Composers Forum; and the ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award. They have performed with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony and graced stages from Carnegie Hall to acclaimed venues in South Africa, France, Argentina, and Canada. Performing repertoire from early music to contemporary selections, the Chorus annually performs a professional series of concerts in the Bay Area, and commissions new works by leading composers.

Matthew Otto, PhD

Dr. Matthew Otto is an award-winning Canadian conductor, educator, and collaborator. Now residing on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, Matthew is the artistic director of the Young Women’s Choral Projects of San Francisco. At YWCP, he conducts the premier ensemble, the Young Women’s Chorus and the Allegro Chorus. Under Matthew’s leadership, YWC has been praised for their “unearthly singing” and “spine-tingling live performance.”

From 2010-2023, Matthew served on faculty at the world-renowned Toronto Children’s Chorus,  including as Associate Artistic Director, Director of Education, and Interim Artistic Director. Matthew conducted the TCC on tour to Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, USA, Australia, New Zealand, as well as at America Cantat 8 in the Bahamas and at the 2017 WSCM11 in Barcelona. In 2013, he co-founded the Toronto Youth Choir (TYC) for youth ages 14-30. During his tenure, TYC performed with The King’s Singers, Irish Youth Choir, Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, musica intima, Missouri State University Chorale, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and performed in Carnegie Hall.

Equally at home in the symphonic chorus realm, Matthew has prepared choruses for Helmuth Rilling, Peter Oundjian, Masaaki Suzuki, Donald Runnicles, Nicholas McGegan, Bramwell Tovey and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. As a lecturer at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto Matthew taught conducting and choral music education courses, and directed the Soprano-Alto Chamber Choir. As a strong advocate for the choral arts in Canada, Matthew was President of Choirs Ontario, board member of Choral Canada, and a founding member of the Bridge Choral Collective. In 2016, Matthew co-organized and was on faculty of Chorus America’s Choral Management Institute in Toronto.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition, Master of Music in Conducting and Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Toronto. His doctoral dissertation, entitled “Let the Music Win! Towards a Re-imagined Choral Pedagogy: A Phenomenological Case Study of Chorister Experience at the Toronto Children’s Chorus,” traces the impact of high-level choral singing on youth.

Dara Phung

Dara Phung is a collaborative pianist and music director based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Kevin Fitz-Gerald. Dara is the collaborative pianist for the Young Women’s Choral Projects, the San Francisco Bach Choir and serves as the music director at Noe Valley Ministry. She is also a piano accompanist with the San Mateo Union High School District and performs occasionally with Opera Cocktales at Martuni’s piano bar in San Francisco.

Jeremy Fitzsimons

Jeremy Fitzsimmons is a freelance percussionist based in Thames. He plays regularly with the NZSO, APO, is percussionist with the Pink Floyd Experience, and has been freelancing in New Zealand since 1993. He was principal Percussionist with Orchestra Wellington, has recorded CDs of marimba and percussion music by Gareth Farr and John Psathas, toured as marimbist with many groups for Chamber Music NZ, and was a founding member of Strike Percussion and Gareth Farr’s Drumdrag. Prominent projects include being soloist with Orchestra Wellington for the Psathas concerto View From Olympus in 2020, guest soloist at a marimba festival in Portugal, ensemble soloist with the APO, member of Double Shot marimba and percussion duo since 2015, and he performs in Silent Movies Live (old silent movies) with original music with pianist David Selfe.

A 1996 Fulbright Scholar, Jeremy has a Bachelor of Music with first class honours from Victoria University of Wellington as well as a Masters and a Post Graduate Performance Certificate from Northwestern University in Chicago where he studied with Michael Burritt, James Ross and Paul Wertico. He is a graduate of the Leigh Howard Stevens International Marimba Seminar in New Jersey, the Music Academy of the West in California, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the World Peace Orchestra in Korea.

Hamilton Civic Choir

Sopranos

Amanda Wood
Angela Taverner
Bianca Verdonk
Chris Gale
Helen Forlong
Holly Hampson-Tindale
Jo Arthur
Karen Johnson
Kate Lethbridge
Lis Wilson*
Maria Colvin
Meryl Nicol
Ocean Daniel
Stef Gibson-Muir
Stephanie Heeley
Susan Woodhouse

Altos

Charlotte Falloon
Diana Scruby
Elizabeth Ordelheide
Esther Termaat
Julie Poot
Laura Duntsch
Lexi Byram*
Lisette Ingram
Liz Carpenter
Liz Phillips*
Mary Raleigh
Stephanie Grinter
Tammy Wong
Tara Jeory
Theresa Guzzo
Tiffany Sayer*
Tracey Hockey

Tenors

Brydon Sundgren
Christoph Maubach
Hans van den Dolder
Iele Ieremia
John Heritage
Keith Spooner

Basses

Brandon Fletcher-McLaughlin
Chris Glassey*
Conall O’Toole
Greg Morton
Harry Neil
Humphrey Pullon
Isaac Albery
Jamie Spooner
Stephen Adams*
Tony Antoniadis

*Member not singing in the current concert

Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco

Soprano 1

Imogen Cornes
Hilde Kirsch Kutz
Lydia Kleinbart
Adabella London
Niah Noorani
Laura Petrocelli*
Jodie Rivera*
Naomi Williams¨

Soprano 2

Sophia Castaneda-Richards
Zoë Cort*
Camille Fanvu*
Isabella Ma
Claire Malaney-Lauˆ
Beatrix Oliver
Hazel Robinson
Sophienne Yuen

Alto 1

Lena Beerˆ
Charlotte Fanvu
Rowan Gleserº
Aria Gupta*
Katherine Hansch
Maeve Minner
Aria Ramsinghani*

Alto 2

Amelia Cheung
Nola Evans
Anna-Sophia Gruzman
Amelie Nordstrom*
Saskia Pettit*
Kären Rindalº
Rowan Stepanian
Scarlet Villanueva

*Section leader
ºChoir Managers
ˆLibrarians
¨Mentor Manager