Mara Kiek (M.App.Sc.) is a leading Australian expert on
Bulgarian traditional music and the ‘Mysterious Bulgarian Voice’.
She is the founder and co-director of Sydney’s choir ‘Martenitsa’,
which has specialised in this unique style of vocal music since 1990 and Mara regularly
features as guest tutor/conductor for ensembles & choirs here and abroad
(including Meryl Tankard’s ADT, Gondwana Voices, Sydney Children’s Choir, Sing
NSW, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir, Malka Sestra, Coro Polifonico Soriano nel
Cimino in Italy, Liutenitsa in Berlin) to assist in their explorations of this vocal
tradition.
Mara has been studying the Bulgarian voice since the early
1980s, including completion of the Course for Directors of Folk Ensembles in
Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1988/9 and gaining a Masters by Research into Characteristics
of the Bulgarian Singing Voice from Sydney University’s Conservatorium of Music
in 2008.
Since 2016, Mara and Bulgarian soloist Silvia Entcheva have
been running the Bulgarian Ensemble course for undergraduates at the School of Arts & Media, UNSW (2nd
Semester only) and in 2017 Mara began giving vocal workshops on Balkan Music
for the Open Academy of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Apart from Bulgarian and Balkan music, Mara has specialised
in the art of ‘the Voice as an Instrument’, focusing on vocal health and
understanding of the possibilities for control of vocal tone based on the anatomy
and physiology of the voice.
Mara Kiek offers private vocal coaching and tuition to
experienced singers of traditional/folk/roots, contemporary, jazz and blues, who
are keen to improve their tone, voice control and understanding of safe vocal
practices, particularly for styles of music requiring high intensity voice use.
For more information contact Mara Music:
PO Box 564
Springwood NSW 2777
mara@maramusic.com.au
02 4751 4910
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