EDUCATION FACULTY
CAM HINTON
Cam has been a part of the Sydney A Cappella scene for over 10 years. Most recently, he won gold with Vox Canvas as an assistant music director (along with Ricky Allan) at BHA Nationals 2025 and has earnt bronze in the BHA Nationals men's quartet competition with Bassically Quartet. Cam also directs the chorus Voices of Western Sydney.
Cam provides coaching to choruses and quartets with a focus on healthy singing technique, phrasing, and expanded sound.
EMILY MORIARTY
Emily is an award-winning singer and arranger specialising in a cappella and barbershop. She is a member of Barbershop Harmony Australia (BHA). She currently sings with Mixed Signals Quartet (BHA National Open Quartet Champions 2023 and 2025), Cabbaggio Quartet (BHA Victorian Region Open Quartet Champions 2025), Laneway City Singers (BHA Victorian Region Open Chorus Champions and BHA National Open Chorus Silver Medallists 2025) and is a deputy for The Velvetones, Vocal Jazz Quartet.
Emily has competed in barbershop competitions in multiple quartets and choruses and has held the roles of Assistant Director and Baritone Section Leader with Geelong Harmony Chorus. She has previously sung with Three Docs & A Diva Quartet (Comedy Quartet), Cadence Quartet (BHA Victorian Region Gold Medallists), The International Doctors Choir, The Geelong Chorale, Gloriana Chamber Choir, St Peters Eastern Hill Choir, Australian Music Events (Opera In The Market and Opera In The Alps), Gondwana Voices and Young Voices of Melbourne. Emily has received choral scholarships with Opera Scholars Australia and St Peters Eastern Hill Choir.
Emily is a Certified Director (DCP) and Approved Arranger (ACP) with Sweet Adelines International and is a graduate of the Southern Cross Regional Arrangers Program (SCRAP) and Music Leaders Program (MLP). She has completed Foundations of Estill Voice Training, and AMEB examinations in Theory of Music (5th Grade), Voice (6th Grade) and Flute (8th Grade).
RICKY ALLAN
Ricky is the music director of Vox Canvas, the current Australian gold medal Barbershop chorus. He directs many community choirs and has done so for over a decade. Ricky has been a musician since the age of five, when he was introduced to the piano by his father. Dreaming big, he began to teach himself to play every instrument he could find. He has since taught many of those instruments, as well as voice coaching. His education style focuses on enjoyment of the art, with a strong data-driven backing – he holds a bachelor’s degree in Medical Science (Anatomy and Physiology). As well as directing and performing, he loves to compete, singing tenor in the quartet Single Malt alongside his assistant MD Tav, who sings bass. The two of them hold multiple gold medals in the Australian Eastern Region competition, including with Single Malt. Ricky is thrilled to have been both a singer and a leader in the barbershop artform for over 20 years, with many more to come.
PETER FRAGAR
Born in Penrith, Peter developed a lifelong connection to music from an early age. He began piano at age seven, later adding organ, trombone, euphonium and choral singing. By age twelve he was already accompanying church services and directing an adult choir. Through his teens he performed widely across Penrith and the Blue Mountains in a family‑supported dance band, even modifying his own organ to create a dedicated bass line.
Peter’s first encounter with Barbershop harmony came in high school and grew through church performances and community events. A transformative moment arrived in the late 1970s when he heard a visiting American Barbershop chorus perform in Australia. Motivated by that experience, he helped establish what became Penrith Harmony Chorus—originally the Riverland Ramblers—in 1988, serving as its founding and long‑time Music Director.
Over nearly four decades Peter has led, taught and sung with the chorus, attended every Australian Barbershop Convention, participated in Pan Pacific conventions, and contributed through roles with Barbershop Harmony Australia, including a national council role as VP Music. He also assisted in developing the first Australian Barbershop Song Book and has delivered workshops across the country.
Peter is driven by a deep belief in the joy of a cappella teamwork—the blend, the camaraderie and the ongoing learning that harmony singing inspires.
SARAH POWELL
Sarah is Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts (Music/Movement) and Deputy Director of Initial Teacher Education in the Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She studied Music and Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has taught for over 20 years across all levels of education (preschool to tertiary). Sarah’s areas of research include singing, movement, and music with children; developing teacher and preservice teacher skill, confidence, and self-efficacy in music and arts pedagogy; and arts-based research with children in building resilience. Her doctoral research investigated masculinity in the Australian context of singing in choir across life stages. Sarah has presented at conferences and professional development events locally, nationally, and internationally and has published in international and national academic and practitioner journals.
