Director
SAM HARTLEY - Pianist, Composer, Choral Conductor
Sam is a pianist and composer currently based in Melbourne.
While at university, he performed extensively, both as a soloist and as an accompanist for numerous choral groups in Melbourne.
Since 2019, he has worked full time as a performer, composer and music tutor.
Sam has worked with groups such as Victorian Opera, Melbourne University Choral Society and Royal Melbourne Philharmonic.
Currently, he directs the Melbourne Chinese Choir which comprises a diverse group of performers.
Through music they pride themselves in promoting, embracing and celebrating the Chinese culture.
Sam will enhance the promotion of the Dutch culture by directing Zing!
Associate Director
SALLY BYRON - Music Teacher, Singer and Choral Conductor
Sally Byron is the Associate Musical Director, working closely with Sam.Sally has many years experience as a music teacher, singer and choral conductor. She’s a regular participant in ACCET, the Australian Choral Conductors Education and Training and has taught at Wesley for 20 years.
Currently she’s employed at St Margaret's School in Berwick. She also teaches piano and music theory privately.
She conducted the Berwick Youth Choir and taught them Sinterklaas songs to add to their repertoire to sing at nursing homes at Christmas.
Sally has sung with the Melbourne Chamber Choir, Faye Dumont Singers and the Majellan Singers. She performed with the MSO under Edo de Waart and has made a recording with Iwaki and the MSO. She toured Europe in 2019 with the Melbourne Women’s Choir.
Sally has been involved with the Dandenong Ranges Music Council as an adjudicator for five years.
She’s been ringing bells at St John’s Toorak since she was a teenager and has taught many other enthusiasts over that time.
Sally is a proud dual citizen who gained her Dutch citizenship due to her mother being Dutch.
Past (and Founding) Director
JEANNIE MARSH – singer, choir leader, music teacher
In 2016 Jeannie was the founding director of Zing! and and she led our choir until the end of 2023.Jeannie was instrumental in helping Zing! become the enthusiastic choir it is today, even without being able to speak Dutch herself!
Jeannie is a graduate of University of Melbourne Faculty of Music, and Victorian College of the Arts (B.Mus.Ed; Dip Opera/Music Theatre). Awards, grants and scholarships enabled her to continue her studies in Italy and the UK. For over 35 years, Jeannie’s career has combined her passions for singing, community arts, and music education. SINGER:
Jeannie has sung as a soloist with companies including Victoria State Opera, Chamber Made Opera, ABC Radio, Melbourne Theatre Company, International Arts Festivals in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, and Adelaide. She has toured in Europe and Asia, and sung in new opera projects with Royal Opera House Covent Garden.Jeannie has always had a strong commitment to the music of Australian composers, and in 2004 she received an APRA/Australian Music Centre award for her “long-term contribution to the advancement of Australian music”. Her long collaboration with guitarist Ken Murray led to their CD Madrugada (music by Australian and Latin American composers), and cabaret act Dry Martinis. In 2003 Jeannie produced and performed in critically-acclaimed new opera Love, Death, Music and Plants – a musical infringement on the life of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller (by Brian Lipson and Matthew Hindson, produced in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne).
Her 2011 collaboration with visual artist James Yuncken, and vocal group Icon Trio, resulted in the multi-media event VoxPix.
COMMUNITY ARTS LEADER, CHOIR LEADER:
Jeannie has been Artistic Director, composer, Music Director and performer in large projects such as Serenading Adela: A Street Opera (2018).She worked extensively with Canto Coro community choir from 1995 – 2003 on the development and performance of new choral music-theatre shows (including Little City and 1975).
Jeannie has worked on many projects with Dandenong Ranges Music Council, including Ballad of Birdsland (2000) and the Breast Beaters music and health film (2015).
Since 2011 Jeannie has been focusing on working with a wide range of choirs. She began three Melbourne community choirs in 2016, which have been keeping her busy as Musical Director ever since: ZING! Sing in Dutch, Climate Choir Melbourne, and Elwood Community Choir.
MUSIC TEACHER:
Jeannie taught VCE Music Style and Composition at Distance Education Centre Victoria (now Virtual School Victoria) from 2002-2011.Jeannie has also taught at the University of Melbourne, Deakin University, the Victorian College of the Arts, music colleges in Adelaide and Hobart, and worked at the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
In 2019 she created online music education resources on Australian music for Melbourne Recital Centre.
Jeannie has been an Artist in Residence at two creative arts centres in NSW: Mirramu in 1996, and Bundanon in 2013. In 2014 she was a Composer in Residence at Visby International Composers’ Centre in Sweden.
