Maria Winder - Music Class Teacher

 

Kate Bell - Managing Director

 

Kate is the co-founder (with Maria) of First Singing, and manages it as part of her All Together Now group of choirs. She also runs the website, so any questions about the website or app should be directed to her, or to her Administrator, Linda. 

Kate is a professional choir director, arranger, composer and singing teacher.  She returned to study at Auckland University in 2008, after a long hiatus raising her 3 children and teaching Suzuki-method piano, as well as high school music and drama.

With Steven Rapana, she founded Volcanic City Voices in 2012 and worked with that choir until it became part of the Everybody Sings Group in 2017. Kate co-founded Everybody Sings and was a director until that organisation closed in 2021. She was also musical director of Stonefields Choir from 2013 until 2022, and of Sister Shout (a women’s choir based on Waiheke Island) from 2013 until the end of 2016.

Kate graduated in 2017 with a Masters in Music, majoring in composition and choral direction.  She is a member of the New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing and of the New Zealand Choral Federation Association of Choral Directors, and sang with the University of Auckland Chamber Choir from 2008 to 2020. And that's where she and Maria crossed paths, singing in the choir together for more than a decade.

Kate is currently studying again - this time a PhD, researching the experiences of community choir singers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Any spare time she has is devoted to her grandchildren, her wild garden, and her knitting - often in some kind of combination!

Linda Bean - Administrator

Linda Bean has taken over the role of Choir Manager for All Together Now at the beginning of 2025, and will be assisting with administration for First Singing as well. She has been singing in ATN Auckland Central for several years, and undertook a voluntary admin role during the World Choir Games in July 2024. 

Linda has always loved singing, and has sung in choirs over many years. She also learned the violin as a young person, and really enjoyed the experience of playing in an orchestra. 

Linda and her husband lived in France and in the UK, and she joined local choirs in both those countries - they were a great way of meeting people who enjoyed making music together.

Her professional background is in health, firstly as a nurse at Auckland Hospital, and then in a GP practice. In France she worked alongside her husband in pastoral care, and while they were living in the UK she did her counselling training. On their return to NZ she worked as a high school counsellor before retiring at the end of 2023. 

Linda is now delighted to be working part time with ATN. She loves belonging to this community, and is committed to keeping everyone up to date with what is happening so that they can concentrate on enjoying singing together!