Our Judges & Conductor
Judges
New Zealand Aria Open Classes
Peter Coleman-Wright AO
Baritone
Peter Coleman-Wright AO has enjoyed a long and highly successful career. He has sung over 75 roles all over the world, including Don Giovanni, Il Conte, Don Alfonso, Papageno, Macbeth, Posa, Germont, Michele, Sharpless, Marcello, Scarpia, Donner, Gunther, Beckmesser, Wolfram, Pizzaro, Figaro, Dandini, Billy Budd, Balstrode, Owen Wingrove, Demetrius, Sid, and The Traveller among many others.
Peter has had long associations with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National, Glyndebourne Festival and Touring, La Monnaie, Bastille, Munich, La Scala, La Fenice, Warsaw, Geneva, Aix-en Provence, Netherlands, Bordeaux , Kammer Oper- Wien and Opera Australia.
In America, Peter has performed at the Metropolitan Opera New York, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires.
In addition Peter has championed new and 20th Century works including operas by Henze Dallapiccola Jonathan Harvey, David Blake Detlev Glanert (Caligula), Jake Heggie (End of the Affair) and Brett Dean (Bliss).
Cheryl Baker AO
Cheryl Barker AO has established a distinguished International Operatic Career throughout the UK, Europe, USA, Asia and Australasia.
She has performed for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Paris Opera, Nederlandse Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, National Opera du Rhin, De Vlaamse Opera, La Monnaie, Opera Holland Park, Reis Opera, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Minnesota Opera, Vancouver Opera, Taipei Opera, Opera Queensland, Opera Australia, State Opera of South Australia, Opera New Zealand, Victoria State Opera and Western Australian Opera.
Her many roles include the title roles in Jenufa, Tosca, Suor Angelica, Madama Butterfly (Mo Award performer of the year), Manon Lescaut, Rusalka, Arabella and Salome (both for which she won green room and Helpmann awards), Adrianna Lecouvreur, Francesca di Rimmini, Hanna Glawari in Die Lustige Witwe, Katya Kabanova, Maria Stuarda.
Other roles include Countess/Le Nozze di Figaro, Adina/L’elisir d’amore, Mimi in the award winning Baz Luhrmann production of La boheme, Violetta/La Traviata, Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Tatyana/Eugene Onegin, Nedda/I Pagliacci, Antonia/The Tales of Hoffmann, Giorgetta/Il Tabarro, Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi, Marschallin/Der Rosenkavalier, Madeleine/Capriccio, Chrysothemis/ Elektra, The Governess and Miss Jessel/The Turn of the Screw, Desdemona/Otello, Musetta/La Boheme, Marie/Die Tote Stadt, Salud/La Vida Breve, Jenifer/A Midsummer Marriage, Micaela/ Carmen, Emilia Marty/Vec Makropoulos, Marzelline/Fidelio, Oksana/Christmas Eve, Kate/Kiss me Kate. She created the role of Sarah in Jake Heggies Opera The end of the Affair for Houston Grand Opera. Gertrude in Brett Deans Hamlet, Juno in Platèe for Pinchgut.
She has appeared in concert at Londons Wigmore Hall, The Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall London, Konzerthaus Wien, Koningin Elisabethzaal Belgium, at the Brisbane, Melbourne, Spoletto Festival Italy, The Australian Festival of Chamber Music and with the SSO, QSO, MSO,WASO and TSO and two tours for Musica Viva.
As well as a sought after adjudicator of major competitions she has also given extensive masterclasses both in Australia and the UK.
Recordings include Puccini Passion, Pure Diva (Melba Recordings), Seduction & Persuasion, Don John of Austria, Beethoven 9 (ABC Classics), La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier OA (CD & DVD) Madama Butterfly, CD of Great Operatic Arias with the LPO, Katya Kabanova, Quo Vadis, Rusalka, Makropoulos Case (Chandos), Madama Butterfly (Belgium and Netherlands Television) Madama Butterfly opus Arte.
Cheryl was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours and also holds an Honorary doctorate of Music conferred by the Melbourne University. Cheryl Barker was Head Voice Teacher at the Australian National University School of Music, Canberra and currently Co- Artistic Director of Pacific Opera Studios Young Artists Program and Mentor for Opera Australia’s Young Artists Program.
Judges
Māori Song Classes
Bobby Mihi Howard
Rongowhakaata/Ngai Tamanuhiri/Ngāpuhi/Ngati Pikiao
Bobby Mihi Howard is a Rotorua-based singer, songwriter, voice teacher, and musical theatre creator whose work spans jazz, and contemporary performance. She recently played Abuela Claudia in In the Heights with Hamilton Musical Theatre and joined the backing vocals ensemble for Tauranga Musical Theatre’s Jersey Boys. She is also the President of Rotorua Musical Theatre and serves on the executive for Musical Theatre NZ.
As a songwriter and creator, Bobby is developing her original musical Ko Tāua, set for release this year. The work explores whakapapa, identity, and resilience through a uniquely Aotearoa lens, blending te ao Māori with contemporary musical theatre.
Alongside her performance career, Bobby teaches voice at Rotorua Lakes High School, nurturing the next generation of singers. She also contributes to youth development in the arts, including her work with the Youth Stage at the Blues and BBQ Festival. Bobby remains deeply committed to celebrating diverse voices, and serves as adjudicator for the Māori song section of the New Zealand Aria.
Judges
New Zealand Aria Under 21
Julia Booth
Award-winning soprano (NZ Aria, Lexus Song Quest), Julia has built a career that bridges opera, musical theatre, and contemporary voice practice. Performance credits include opera and musical theatre productions such as Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, and Next to Normal, alongside numerous NZ premieres including Michael Williams’ The Juniper Passion, award-winning collaboration with Dr Jeremy Mayall and Dan Inglis’ LOQshun, and collaborative contemporary musical theatre project Mum’s Kitchen. Alongside her performing career, Julia is a passionate teacher and vocal coach whose workfocuses on connecting voice physiology with practical, embodied application. She lectures in
voice for contemporary and musical theatre performers within the Bachelor of Music and Performing Arts degree at Wintec | Te Pūkenga in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, where she also supervises postgraduate research as an active Creative Researcher. In private practice, Julia works with a wide range of professional artists, most recently coaching both seasons of TV3’s comedy Happiness. As an Estill Master Trainer, she has also assisted Anne-Marie Speed (The Voice Explained) in presenting Estill courses internationally across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Finland.
Next on the horizon is a project Julia is currently developing; a boutique collaborative song- cycle for voice and piano that explores joy, happiness, vulnerability, and artistic identity through multiple compositional perspectives. Blending genres and vocal styles, the project reimagines the traditional song-cycle as a celebration of artistic autonomy, emotional complexity, and the many voices we carry within us.
Na Young Kim
Korean-born soprano Na Young Kim is an Auckland-based performer who has appeared as a soloist in opera, oratorio, and concert repertoire. Her appearances include Handel’s Messiah, La Resurrezione, Jeptha, and Alexander’s Feast, as well as Duruflé Requiem, performing with the Auckland Choral Society, Hamilton Civic Choir, Handel Consort & Quire, and the NZ Korean Philharmonic Orchestra. Her operatic roles include performances in Hansel & Gretel, Suor Angelica, A Christmas Carol, and The Boy Who Grew Fast.
Alongside her performing career, Na Young is an experienced singing teacher and vocal coach who has worked with secondary school singers and choirs across Auckland. She currently teaches at St Cuthbert’s College and Epsom Girls Grammar School and has previously taught at Westlake Girls High School, Diocesan School for Girls, and Mt Roskill Grammar School. She served for many years as vocal consultant to the Cantare Choir at Westlake Girls High School and is currently vocal coach to Saints Alive Choir at St Cuthbert’s College. Her competition achievements include winning the Becroft Grand Operatic Aria, the Linda Wootten Memorial Award, and the Ladies Vocal Championship at the North Shore Performing Arts Competition. She was awarded second prize in the Lockwood Aria Competition in Rotorua (now the NZ Aria Competition) and the Hawke’s Bay Aria Competition, and was also a finalist in the McDonald’s Operatic Aria Competition in Sydney.
Na Young holds a Bachelor of Music from Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, a Master of Music with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland, where she was awarded the prestigious Fowlds Memorial Prize for the most distinguished student, and a Graduate Diploma from the Royal College of Music in London.
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