Singing Teacher / Director / Adjudicator / Singer / Actor

Deborah is a singing teacher with a difference!

She takes great personal care with her students' vocal development; care that often develops a great bond reflected in regular email correspondence from far flung corners of the planet and regular coffee catch-ups with students who have been taking singing lessons from her for many years.

Deborah began her own singing training and competing in junior talent quests and eisteddfods at age 10.

By 16 she was performing lead roles in community theatre productions and her professional career started at 19 with the vocal harmony group The New Tradition performing across the NSW 'club circuit', cruise ships and regular guest appearances on the Chris Kirby Show & the Mike Walsh Show.

Deborah then moved into the worlds of professional musical theatre, opera, pantomime & television.

This vast range of performance experiences plus years of skill development with private vocal coaches and through courses at Wesley Institute, The Actors' Centre and NIDA has equipped Deborah for her current career as an extraordinary teacher and director.

During a 25 year performing career, Deborah worked in all forms of Musical Theatre.

Performing Credits:

Concert

• Opera in the Park (Sutherland Shire)
• Opera Highlights (Sutherland Entertainment Centre)
• Wayne Leaves - Sydney Theatre Company concert for Wayne Harrison (Wharf 2)
• Follies The Producers (Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House)
• Stage & Screen - with Francine Bell & the Sydney Male Choir
• Gilbert & Sullivan Meet Sondheim (JSPAC Penrith)
• Phantom Melodies The Phantom of the Opera Company (State Theatre, Melbourne)
• Phantom Chamber Concerts - The Phantom of the Opera Company (Melbourne, Victoria)
• Circle C Series  - for the Sydney Circle C Clubs

Pantomime

• Aladdin - Tony Price Productions
• Cinderella - Tony Price Productions

Cabaret

• The New Tradition - vocal harmony group
• Just We Two - duet with Tony Morgan

Revue

• Three Cheers for the Red White & Blue - Tony Price Productions
• Thanks for the Memory - Tony Price Productions
• From the Tivoli to the Town Hall - Tony Price Productions
• A Tribute to the Twenties - Tony Price Productions
• Ye Olde Music Hall - Tony Price Productions
• A Tribute to Broadway - Tony Price Productions

Opera

• Aida - Kevin Jacobson Productions (Sydney Football Stadium)
• Turandot - Kevin Jacobson Productions (Sydney Football Stadium)

Musical Theatre

• Evita! - Stetson Productions (State Theatre Sydney)
• Follies - The Producers (Sydney Opera House Concert Hall)
• The Secret Garden - Gordon Frost Organisation (State Theatre Melbourne)
• Kismet - Rockdale Municipal Opera
• Into the Woods - Sydney Theatre Company (Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House)
• My Fair Lady  - Victoria State Opera (Adelaide Festival Theatre)
• The Phantom of the Opera - Cameron McIntosh Productions (Princess Theatre Melbourne, Theatre Royal Sydney)
• Fiddler on the Roof  - Cockatours Productions (Hills Centre)
• Show Boat (Rockdale Municipal Opera)
• Canterbury Tales (Bankstown Theatre Restaurant)

Musicals in Concert - Tours

(Tony Price Productions)

• The Student Prince
• The Desert Song
• The King & I

Television

(Australian Broadcasting Commission)

• G.P.
• The Stringer
• Big Sky
• The Dismissal
  

Singing Teachers / Coaches 

• Brian Stacey (Melbourne)
• Christa Leahmann (Melbourne)
• Raymond McDonald (Sydney)
• Nita Maughan (Sydney)

 Movement

• Ballroom Dancing - St George Centre
• Stage Movement - Ross Hutchinson
• Basic Jazz - Glenda Benton
• Basic Tap - Glenda Benton

 Stage Management

• The Gordon Frost organisation. Crazy For You training secondment - working under the instruction of Mary Benn (NIDA) & Linda Aitken (NIDA)

Tertiary

• Bachelor of Creative Arts (Drama)

Certificate III in TESOL

• Current study

 Creative Arts Training

• NIDA Directors' Masterclass
• New Zealand Singing School
• Wesley Institute
• Sydeny Actors' Centre - Into The Woods workshop study & performance
• Sydney Actors' Centre - Musical Theatre Performance
• Sydney Actors' Centre - Sondheim Performance Study

In 1998 Deborah chose educating over performing.

Since then has taught:

Sydney, Australia

• Vocal Technique - to singers and actors
• Musical Theatre Performance - at a tertiary level as well as privately
• Presentation Skills - to school, university & TAFE students as well as in the corporate sector
• Workshops for Education Drama Association

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• 2005: Vocal Skills Workshops - for Speech & Drama Teachers in Malaysia
• 2009: Workshops on Vocal Skills & Musical Theatre Performance for SIBKL, Kolej Dika & KLPac
• 2009: Individual Masterclasses for amateur & professional singers

Deborah has directed highly successful productions of:

• Closer Than Ever (Richard Bonynge Concert Hall, Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre Penrith)
• Children of Eden (Newtown Theatre, Sydney)
• Hot Mikado (Footbridge Theatre, Sydney)
• Hating Alison Ashley (Footbridge Theatre, Sydney)
• Into the Woods (Tom Mann Theatre, Sydney; Riverside Theatre Parramatta)
• Side by Side by Sondheim (Riverside Theatre, Parramatta)
• Stepping Out (Downstairs Seymour Centre, Sydney)
• Talking With (Seymour Centre Sound Lounge, Sydney; Nowra Theatre Restaurant)
• The Other Boy From Oz (New York)

plus a host of cabaret shows.

In 2000 she directed more than 120 students in a series of street theatre performances in Sydney during the Sydney Olympic Games.

Adjudicating:

Deborah has adjudicated for:

• Triple Treat Shopping Centre Talent Quests
• St George Eisteddfod - contemporary sections (as well as helping them structure their vocal sections)
• Wollongong Eisteddfod - contemporary & music theatre sections
• Sutherland Shire Eisteddfod - vocal sections
• Sydney Eisteddfod (McDonald Challenge) - contemporary & music theatre sections - including Contemporary Singer of the Year