The Conductors and accompanists at the Geelong Youth Choir are highly-qualified in the field of Music Education.  The team brings together a wide range of skills and experience that provide choristers with a range of opportunities to develop their vocal and musicianship skills in a supportive environment.

Phillipa McQuinn

BMus (Performance). Master of Teaching (Secondary).

Director of Music / Conductor: Cantore

Phillipa is a highly accomplished musician with a lifelong dedication to her craft. Her extensive training in voice and piano, which commenced at the age of 8, has paved the way for an impressive career in the world of music.

Among her notable achievements, Phillipa has graced renowned stages such as the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a performer with Gondwana Voices. Her musical journey has taken her to diverse locations, including the Kimberly, Tasmania, and Taiwan, where she not only showcased her vocal prowess but also exhibited her compositional talents through a remarkable choral installation at the Melbourne White Night Festival in 2014.

Phillipa’s versatility as a performer is further exemplified by her leading roles in music theatre and opera productions in her hometown of Geelong. Her repertoire includes acclaimed performances in productions such as “Brundibar,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat,” and “Guys and Dolls,” and most recently “Urinetown.”

During her time at The Geelong College, she shone as the lead stage band vocalist and proudly represented her institution alongside the Geelong College Pegasus Singers at the James Morrison Generations in Jazz Festival in Mt Gambier.

Phillipa’s remarkable talent has been recognised through numerous local awards, propelling her towards further academic and artistic pursuits. She advanced her expertise in classical voice at the esteemed Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Her performances at distinguished venues such as Melba Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne attest to her commitment to musical excellence.

For an impressive span of seven years, Phillipa lent her voice to the prestigious Trinity College Chapel Choir, which allowed her to embark on international tours and record in illustrious locations across Spain, France, the UK, America, Canada, Italy, and Ireland. Her harmonious collaborations with esteemed Australian groups like The Song Company and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra have only added to her musical accolades.

Phillipa’s dedication to the arts is matched by her commitment to education, as she has recently completed a Master of Teaching. Her wealth of knowledge and expertise make her a valuable asset to both the musical and educational communities, ensuring that her legacy as a consummate musician and educator continues to flourish.

Kym Dillon

BMus (Hons)., Master of Music (Composition).

Conductor / Accompanist: Voices of Geelong

Kym Dillon is a composer; arranger; orchestrator, pianist and conductor, who is currently based in Melbourne and Geelong. Starting out her career as a jazz pianist, Kym’s interest soon turned to composition, and her work now regularly spans multiple genres and areas of musical practice.

She completed a Bachelor of Music Performance Honours in composition at the Victorian College of the Arts, studying under such teachers as Anthony Lyons, Mark Pollard, and John McCaughey. She was awarded the ‘Beleura Sir George Tallis Award’ from the ‘Friends of the VCA’ for her work in the course in 2009; and the ‘Beleura John Tallis Award’ in 2010. She composed and performed two original jazz works for the VCA Improvisation Series in 2009, for which her ensemble won the ‘Athanaeum Prize’.

Kym has had original works commissioned by such groups as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Astra Chamber Music Society, and Musica Viva; and her music has been performed in Canada, the U.K., North America, Canada, Romania and Italy. Her work is often inspired by reflections on the nature of imagination and creation — what it means to create and what our creative compulsion says about us.

Kym has frequently collaborated with the choreographer and artist Jude Walton, including performing solo piano compositions for her show Heide (2014) and Heide II (2015) at the Heide Museum of Contemporary art; conducting compositions for brass quartet for her show The Drill Hall Project (2017); and performing a collection of serial and improvised piano works for her show Nadja-Léona (2018).

In 2017 Kym was commissioned by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Box Hill to compose a cantata for chamber orchestra, choir and soloists celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran reformation, with the work being given a repeat performance in 2018. 2019 saw Kym collaborate with BK Opera to transform the intense orchestral score of Béla Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle into the radically different style of synthesiser-laden 80’s electronica, with her work on the project described by the review site whatdidshethink.com as ‘great genius’.

As a pianist she performs regularly in jazz/contemporary contexts, often as a soloist but frequently as an accompanist to vocalists, such as in 2015 where she performed on piano as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival show, Larry Paradiseo and the Fabulous Dame Farrar. She also regularly performs on piano with the Georgia Brooks Swingtet, a group that specialises in revitalising classic swing-era jazz tunes.

Kym has also worked as a writer/presenter of the interactive kids show ‘Musicamaze’, which introduced young children to the world of ‘classical music’ through games, puppets, dance and other fun things.

She has enjoyed working with Creativity Australia’s ‘With One Voice’ program for over ten years, leading and conducting the inclusive community choirs in Geelong, Altona Meadows, Melbourne (from 2015 – 2018) and Ashburton.

Residing in Geelong, Kym now juggles work as a composer, arranger, theory/compositon teacher, tutor, performer, conductor and writer, and is currently studying a Masters of Composition at Melbourne University under the supervision of Elliot Gyger and Melody Eötvös.

Find out more about Kym here.

Tamlyn Mejia

BArts (Music Performance)., Master of Teaching (Secondary).

Conductor: Prelude

Tamlyn is a passionate Music Educator who enjoys empowering others to feel confident while learning and performing music. 

Tamlyn is a registered teacher who began teaching classroom music, in London, United Kingdom at School 21. Other roles at the school included directing the school’s Middle School Choir and organising and leading the school’s Primary Music Exhibition.

During her time in London, Tamlyn’s exposure to the world of musical theatre ignited a passion for nurturing the confidence of all performers.  

Returning to Melbourne in September 2022, Tamlyn began working as a Vocal and Performing Arts Teacher at Stage School Australia, teaching students aged 5-18 years. There she continues to excel and develop her teaching skills, teaching selected students from the company in an accelerated class.

Tamlyn is trained in the Kodaly concept and leverages her knowledge to facilitate the discovery of student learning and musicianship. This knowledge is integrated by learning engaging songs and games in her classes.

Known for her talent in creating acapella arrangements of songs, Tamlyn is eager to showcase this skill in her role as a chorister and as an artist.

Stefanie Gumienik

Accompanist: Cantore & Prelude

Stefanie grew up in Geelong, studied pianoforte at the Victorian College of the Arts, and has since spent many years contributing to the Geelong music scene as a teacher, accompanist, and rehearsal pianist. In recent years, she worked as a pianist for both the Queensland Ballet and the Australian Ballet, playing improvised music for company classes and rehearsing both classical and contemporary ballet repertoire with world-class dancers and choreographers. These days, Stefanie has resumed her pianist work back in Geelong and Melbourne and is currently teaching piano at Christian College Geelong.