Burnside High School music students Anastasia Bell and Phyllis Turner have been accepted into intensive summer programmes held by prestigious music institutions overseas.

Phyllis Turner, a member of the SMP Voice programme has successfully acquired a position in the intensive Vocal Summer School at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London for classical singers.

The Guildhall School was ranked as the top school in the Arts, Drama & Music by Complete University Guide 2023 and is one of the top ten performing arts institutions in the world according to QS World University Rankings 2023. 

The 5 day-intensive Vocal Summer School course for classical singers will be run by senior faculty members from the Vocal Studies Department at the Guildhall School including Marilyn Reeves and Theresa Goble, both high-esteemed opera singers who have toured the world. The course is for youth between ages 16 and 21 and involves class teaching and one on one tuition, including English and Italian repertoire masterclasses, lessons on breathing and body awareness, interpretation and performance presentations and drama workshops. Throughout the programme, Phyllis will work towards an informal presentation at the end of the course, where she will sing one piece of English and one piece of Italian repertoire.

 Phyllis has been singing since the age of 12, but her singing journey began when she joined the Christchurch Girls’ Choir at the age of 10, which she describes as her first time ever singing properly, outside of her bedroom. Then, when Phyllis was in year 8, her choir teacher expressed interest in giving Phyllis singing lessons. Although Phyllis has only been singing for four years, she tells us the reason for her rapid progression is “because my teacher knew that I hadn’t had the training that others had had, but I had the raw potential. We did a lot of lessons just on technique.” Phyllis thinks this technical focus is what has helped her in the long run. Since Year 9, Phyllis has had her heart set on becoming an opera singer. As soon as she came to this realisation, her singing progressed immensely. She loves singing because of “the way that it affects the people in the audience. There’s nothing better for me than once I’ve finished a performance and someone is crying or someone comes up to you and tells you how much you moved them. That’s just hands-down the best thing.” One of Phyllis’ goals as a singer is to “influence people to open their minds to opera and have a different viewpoint on classical music.” Phyllis is passionate about classical music and wishes to eliminate the stereotypes that opera is “boring” or “for old people.” She states that she feels “like lots of people don’t like classical music and it’s really upsetting to me.” Phyllis had been looking for intensive programmes to do because she wanted to go somewhere else and “have other opinions of how I’m singing and learn and grow from people who are educated and have connections to places where I would want to be eventually.” When she saw the intensive programme for classical singers on offer at the Guildhall school, she “knew that one was a good one to apply for.” Phyllis says that the opportunity is “so rewarding,” especially after all of the hard work and effort that she has put into her vocal development. Phyllis wanted to look beyond where she stood in New Zealand, “but I had no idea where I stood internationally” she says. “Getting this was a lot of validation that all my hard work and all my efforts are internationally recognised. I feel like that was a big confidence boost for me.” She also says that the opportunity is “so awesome because I’m making a career off doing something I really enjoy.” She is looking forward to “getting some advice from different people and a different perspective from another country because different countries have different styles in which they like you to hear and sing.” She’s also “really excited to hear other people who are around my age and also interested in the style in which I want to be singing.” “I would like to mention Amanda Atlas, my singing teacher, she helped me prepare for the audition and has helped my vocal development over the past year, just so much. She is amazing and has been a wonderful tutor.” She would also like to thank Andrea Koorey, her preliminary tutor who helped her gain vocal development. “I have to credit her,” says Phyllis, “she has been excellent.” 

Phyllis will travel to London to partake in this programme at the end of July. We congratulate her on her success and wish her the best of luck in making her dreams come true. 

Anastasia Bell, a member of the SMP Woodwind programme has successfully obtained a place in the Flute Institute held by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in America. The programme will be lead by Amy Porter, a word class flautist, whom Anastasia will study with. The University of Michigan music school was ranked as the third-best music school in the USA by prepscholar.com and is one of the top tertiary institutions in America. The intensive Flute Institute programme will run for one week in July, consisting of instructional classes on tone, technique, intonation and vibrato. The course also has additional sessions relating to body awareness, combating performance anxiety and productive practice techniques.

 Anastasia has been playing the flute for “about six years,” beginning to play “when I was around ten”. Since then, she has progressed immensely, having regular opportunities to perform as an invited performer, as well as being the lead flautist of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra. She loves how in music you can “make your own sounds” when you play as a soloist, however, you can also “play with other people and be part of a larger sound.” She also enjoys how music has many different components to it. “I like how you can be technical with it and also quite creative with it and how there are different branches of music like performing, composition, conducting and music theory,” all in which she takes a keen interest. Anastasia wanted to apply for a summer programme because she “wanted to take my knowledge internationally and travel worldwide to gain an insight to study overseas and meet new people and learn a variety of new knowledge from others.” Anastasia had already done all the preparation that she needed to do for the opportunity, she just needed to find a programme suitable for her desires and go through the application process. After seeing the Flute Institute programme on offer by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, she “decided that this was the one I wanted to do.” Anastasia says she is “looking forward to travelling to a country I haven’t been to before and seeing what’s there and the different music opportunities that they offer and the different teaching styles of the professors there to gain a wider insight into different ideas and approaches to music.” She is also looking forward to being taught more of the “American” way of flute playing, which she describes as being very “romantic”. She says she is very “excited” for the opportunity, but she is “also aware that a lot of work needs to be done in order to make it happen.” 

Anastasia would like to express her gratitude for all the opportunities she has received that have contributed to her musical development. She would also like to thank her flute teacher, Dr Hannah Darroch for her support and preparation. We wish Anastasia the best of luck for this experience.