Vocal Department
Larissa burak - vocal teacher/choir director
M.Mus (Kiev, Ukraine) MEd (Sydney)
Larissa joins the RCM as a qualified concert performer, soloist soprano, music lecturer and choir conductor. Larissa's area of expertise is singing (classical, music theatre, contemporary) and bandura (Ukrainian harp). She also teaches piano for beginners, music theory, harmony and solfeggio.
Larissa has a Masters Degree in Music (1992 Kiev Conservatorium, Ukraine) as well as a Masters Degree in Teaching (2004, Sydney University, Australia).
Larissa studied voice at the Kiev Conservatorium where her teacher was renowned professor Serhiy Bashtan. In 1993 Larissa was awarded “national laureate in performing arts” of Ukraine and soon became one of the nation’s leading performers with international concert performances in France, Germany, Latvia and Estonia.
Since moving to Australia, Larissa has made recordings with SBS and the ABC (Radio and Television) and has appeared at the Sydney Opera House, Multicultural Festivals, Musica Viva, Cafe Carnivale and Australia Day Concerts. Soprano for the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and invited soloist with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in the "Noel!Noel!" concert series as well as the Woodford Folk Festival.
Larissa joins us from teaching voice and musicianship at the Australian Institute of Music, Sydney.
KATHERINE CHOI - vocal teacher/choir director
BMus (Music Ed), MEd (Sydney)
Katherine has completed her Bachelor of Music (Music Education) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2010. She is also a qualified Special Education teacher who works as a secondary teacher with the Department of Education and communities as she has also completed her Master of Education (Special and Inclusive Education) at the University of Sydney.
During her studies at the Conservatorium, she had studied piano under Lyall Duke had previously studied piano with Stephanie McCallum. Katherine has had many years of experiences teaching piano as she had been teaching since 2007. As a music teacher, she has prepared students for their exams (such as AMEB and Trinity exams) and had also prepared HSC students for the performance and written exams. She had also previously run her own piano studio and worked as a piano teacher in Sydney before moving to Wagga.
Also Katherine also specialises in voice as she had studied voice under Dallas Watts in Sydney, and was a member of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Chamber Choir. She has also participated in performances, studio recitals and had also been in ABC live recordings in performances with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Chamber Choir.
Katherine is a passionate teacher, who is able to teach all types of learners
stephanie johnston - vocal teacher
Bmus, DipMus (CQUniversity)
Stephanie is a singer and pianist who feels privileged to 'share the joy of music' as she teaches students of all ages and helps them develop in their own musical journeys. She firmly believes in the benefits and rewards of music education and is delighted to be a part of facilitating music learning opportunities at the RCM. Stephanie is pleased to work in such a vibrant, collaborative musical environment. She aims to support her students in making the most of the quality music education they can receive.
Stephanie has been learning and performing music since early childhood. With a value of giving back to the community, she has spent much of the last two decades preparing solo and choral performances for a wide variety of audiences and events. Her singing background includes solo recitals, events singing, children’s choirs, Gospel choir, a Capella chamber or jazz groups, various classical choirs and touring youth choirs who have performed nationally and internationally. Recent performance projects include musical theatre productions such as Phantom of the Opera and Evita and larger-scale choral projects such as Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Faure’s Requiem. Areas of particular interest for Stephanie are Early/Baroque music and Sacred music. As a member of the RCM Vocal Department, Stephanie teaches classical and contemporary voice and does choral direction.
PETER CASEY - VOCAL TEACHER
Dip. Mus (Jazz Studies), B.Ed, UC.
Peter studied Jazz at the Canberra School of Music, majoring in Voice, and holds a Bachelor of Education from Canberra University.
Peter has worked as a performer, writer and accompanist in cabaret and musical theatre for over thirty years. He appeared with dozens of singers at the Queanbeyan School of Arts Café and Tilbury Hotel, Sydney, and has worked as a pit musician and Musical Director for The Really Useful Group, Sydney Theatre Company, David Atkins, The Gordon Frost Organisation , Harry M. Miller, and The Ensemble Theatre.
Peter won the Sydney Cabaret Convention with his first one-man show, Closes On Saturday Night, and has since co-written and performed three more solo shows – Alone, Renaissance Bloke, and I Am Sick to Death of Hearing About the Weimar Republic.
Peter’s composer/lyricist credits include Angry Penguins (Olympics Arts Festival), The Windows Project (Australian Theatre for Young People), Too Hot to Handle (Jigsaw Theatre Co), Tiger Look at This, The Canberra Cantata (Canberra International Music Festival), The Devil Builds a Chapel (New Opera Ventures Australia), and The Lizard of Oz (Crow Crow Productions).
Peter’s other activities have included improvising entire musicals for ACT Impro, and contributing piano and songs to ABC-TV’s Play School.
judy FERGUSON - murrumbidgee magic choir director
Judy Ferguson is the musical director of Murrumbidgee Magic Chorus. Her unstinting effort and enthusiasm keeps the chorus working hard while having a worthwhile educational experience and a lot of fun besides.
Judy has been a member of Murrumbidgee Magic since 1995, serving as Assistant Director until 2017 when she became Director,
She has been involved with music in the schools for many years, directing the Wagga Wagga Combined Primary Schools Senior Choir for many years as well as co-directing the Riverina Central Choir.
Judy is also the director of Wagga City Rugby Male Choir, a group of 80 members who sing a repertoire from traditional male voiced music to contempory