Gondwana National Choirs

Marit Tøndel Bodsberg is one of Norway’s leading choral conductors and a highly respected educator. She is Assistant Professor of Conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music and has worked with many of Norway’s most prominent choirs and orchestras. She is Chief Conductor of the professional Kilden Vocal Ensemble, The Norwegian Students’ Choral Society and The Women Students’ Choral Society at the University of Oslo, as well as the acclaimed Norwegian female choir Embla.

Known for her energetic personality and musical dedication, Marit is not only an acclaimed conductor but also an inspiring teacher and speaker. She is frequently invited to lead workshops, serve on panels and adjudicate competitions both in Norway and internationally.

Her ensembles have achieved remarkable success in international competition, earning eleven first prizes. Under her leadership, Kvindelige Studenters Sangforening was ranked number one in INTERKULTUR’s world ranking of competing female choirs from 2015–2020. Marit has also received numerous conducting awards across Europe and Norway.

As a singer, flautist, conductor and musical director, she has contributed to many acclaimed recordings. Her work is praised for its attention to language, phrasing and interpretation. The KSS recording *Stille som sne* was nominated for the 2021 OPUS Klassik Award for Choral Recording of the Year.

Dr. Michael Joseph Barrett is an internationally acclaimed conductor, educator, composer, and choral clinician. He was the conductor of the University of Pretoria (TUKS) Camerata and a full-time faculty member in choral conducting at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Music from 2013-2025. Since April 2025, he has been appointed as a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria. Dr. Barrett earned his Doctor of Music (DMus) in Choral Performance from the University of Pretoria in 2017. His choirs have received numerous national and international awards, and he is frequently sought after as a guest conductor, lecturer, adjudicator, and choral clinician. His work spans across the globe, with recent engagements including conducting the Texas All-State Choir (TMEA 2024), the Missouri All-State Choir (MMEA 2022), and the Florida ACDA High School Honor Choir (2019). He has held university residencies at institutions such as Missouri State University, Texas State University, San Jose State University, and the University of Washington, among others. Dr. Barrett is also a passionate advocate for collaboration and regularly works with high school festivals and university programmes in the United States, Europe and Asia. 

Internationally, Dr. Barrett has conducted and presented workshops in countries including the United Kingdom, USA, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Russia, and South Korea. He will debut at Carnegie Hall in April 2026, marking a significant milestone in his career. As the conductor of the TUKS Camerata, an 80-voice choir consisting of full-time students from diverse academic fields, Dr. Barrett had led the group to great success, including winning the prestigious Grand Prix of Nations for Best Mixed Youth Choir in Riga, Latvia, in both 2014 and 2017. The Camerata has also performed at the World Symposium of Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain (2017), and recorded six critically acclaimed albums. Their most recent projects include Light The Whole Sky (2025) and uJehova (2024), while their 2022 tour of the United Kingdom included a performance with the renowned vocal ensemble Voces8. In March 2025, the Camerata performed as a Headline Choir at the American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Dallas, Texas. 

As a composer and arranger, Dr. Barrett has over 40 works published by Santa Barbara Music Publishers and Walton Music (USA). He has earned a Y2 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa for his contributions to South African Choral Music Research. Dr. Barrett also serves as the Executive Director and Co-Producer of Capital Singers, South Africa’s largest community choir project, further solidifying his commitment to choral music both locally and internationally. 

Elizabeth Scott is a Lecturer in Conducting and Choral Director at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the Associate Music Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. She is a graduate of Symphony Australia’s Conductor Development Program and was awarded the Sydney Choral Symposium Foundation Choral Conducting Scholarship in 2008. As an undergraduate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Elizabeth earned the prestigious Student of the Year Award and the Reuben F. Scarf Scholarship for academic and musical excellence. As the holder of scholarships from the Hungarian Ministry of Education, she then undertook post-graduate studies in choral conducting, vocal performance and aural training in Hungary and Germany before returning to Australia in 2004. Elizabeth completed a Doctorate in Choral Conducting in 2021.

Elizabeth has been the Musical Director of Vox, Sydney Philharmonia’s youth choir since 2008 and has built this ensemble into one of Australia’s leading youth choirs. She regularly works as a chorus master for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and has prepared choirs for international conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Simone Young and Stephen Layton. Elizabeth has been a guest conductor for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, the National Youth Choir of Australia, Festival of Voices, Gondwana Choirs and Cantillation and has performed and recorded with Pinchgut Opera and The Song Company.

Dr. Anthony Trecek-King is a renowned choral conductor, scholar, and media personality with over 20 years of experience. Currently, he serves as a Resident Conductor with the Handel and Haydn Society, Artistic Director of Berkshire Choral International & Creative Advisor for the VOCES8 US Foundation. Known for his dynamic performances and collaborative style, he has worked with numerous prestigious artists and ensembles, conducting in world-class venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Dr. Trecek-King’s projects have garnered awards including a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy. He holds degrees in cello performance, orchestral conducting, and choral conducting, and has appeared on radio and television programs. He resides in Boston with his partner Melanie and their cat.

Christie Anderson is an award-winning conductor and singer, Artistic Director and Conductor of Adelaide Chamber Singers since 2022, and Artistic Director of Young Adelaide Voices since 2009. She has initiated a Composer in Residence program, a changing voices choir, and the WATU Youth Choir Festival, and founded Aurora Vocal Ensemble, known for The Pulse with Gravity & Other Myths and the NIMA-winning The Djari Project.

Christie has contributed to two Ruby Award-winning Adelaide Festival works: Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan with ACS and The Pulse with Aurora and Gravity & Other Myths. In 2024, she conducted the ACS commission All Flesh is Fire for the 18th Biennial of Australian Art, toured Germany with The Pulse, toured France and Italy with YAV, and was Guest Artistic Director of The Song Company. In 2025, she was Chorus Master and Offstage Conductor for Innocence with ACS, toured The Pulse to South Korea and the UAE, and represented ACS and Anne Cawrse at the Australian Art Music Awards, where ACS won the SA Luminary Award and Cawrse won Best New Work – Choral.
In 2026 Christie tours with ACS to the World Symposium on Choral Music in Macau, where ACS is the Australian artist in residence. She has recently recorded Joe Twist’s music with ACS and members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and is working on the Sydney season of LOUDER with GOM, after premiering the work in Brandenburg, Germany in 2025.

She is currently developing a new project with Aurora and the Inarma Choir from Tijikala, NT, and serve as guest juror for the Japan National Choral Competition in Sapporo. She is excited to return to the Gondwana NCS family in 2027, for singing, music-making, and all manner of choral-nerdery!

Dr. Tracy Wong is a versatile Malaysian-Canadian choral conductor, composer, music educator, and performer.

As the Director of Choral Activities (Eileen Mercier Professorsip in Choral Music) at Wilfrid Laurier University, she leads the Laurier Singers and Concert Choir while mentoring the next generation of conductors. She holds a DMA and MMus from the University of Toronto and a BMus from the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Dr. Wong is dedicated to empowering educators and singers through collaborative commissions, festivals, and workshops. Her approach balances rigorous performance practice with vocal exploration and “choral heart.” As a prolific composer-arranger, her works—widely published and performed internationally—blend diverse lived experiences and languages to support vocal technique and musicianship.

Her leadership in the global choral community is extensive. Recent highlights include:

• Conductor: 2026 ACDA Hawai’i All-State High School Choir, 2026 Children’s Chorus Nova Scotia, 2025 ACDA National Southeast Asian Immersion Choir and 2024 OAKE Concert Treble Choir.
• International Clinician: Atelier leader for Choralies 2025 (France) and Europa Cantat Junior 2023 (Belgium).
• Keynote Speaker: 2024 Kodály Australia National Conference.

Recognized for excellence, she is a two-time recipient of the Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship and has earned prestigious teaching awards from McMaster and Western Universities. Dr. Wong continues to collaborate globally as an adjudicator, clinician, and residency artist, championing repertoire-based music education and intercultural artistry.

Learn more at www.tracywongmusic.com.

Lachlan Massey is a young Australian conductor and composer. 

Lachlan is Artistic Associate at Gondwana Choirs, working under Lyn Williams AM. In his time with the choirs he has prepared them for performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Theatre Company and for six Prime Ministers of Australia. He is privileged to conduct the Sydney Children’s Choir’s Junior Performing Choir, a selective extension ensemble for young people ages 9-14 who show especially strong musical aptitude.

As a composer and director of opera, and especially those for young audiences, Lachlan’s productions with Musgrove Opera have been called “ingenious…petite productions for hungry young minds” (Time Out). The company has performed children’s operas such to packed houses at The Concourse and the Sydney Opera House, as well as regional venues. Its schools concerts have been well received by teachers and students alike, bringing energetic productions to classrooms and school halls of all shapes and sizes. His stage works as a composer include Pinocchio! (2018), Mulga Bill’s Bicycle (The Concourse, 2024), Hansel and Gretel (The Concourse, 2021), and as music director; Aija Draguns’ Max and Moritz (Sydney Opera House, 2022), and Malcolm Fox’s Sid the Serpent who Wanted to Sing (Sydney Opera House, 2022/23).

​Lachlan is a primary music teacher at SCEGGS Darlinghurst, and Director of Choirs at Shore School. He has presented workshops for ACO Foundations and was a guest conductor for the RSCM Junior Schools Choral Festival in 2022 and 2023. Lachlan is a former Young Ambassador for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.