About me:
I love music and I love French (that's me up there conducting the Bahá'í Choral Festival choir) and I love combining the two, which is why I enjoy helping singers prepare for auditions, and helping choral conductors prepare their choirs for concerts. Yes, any other French speaker can help you with the text, but I can help you understand how the French pronunciation works in a musical context. I also know how to help you learn the French pronunciation like a singing teacher helps students sing the correct vowels. I will give you precise information of where you will feel each vowel in your vocal tract.
My life is filled with music in a variety of languages. I'm a Choral Conductor and Voice Teacher and I hold a Master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy (the science of teaching how to sing) from Northeastern Illinois University (CGPA 4.0). I also graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Music from the University of Ottawa in Canada. I have been teaching voice to all levels and piano for beginners for more than eight years. Before moving to Yeppoon, QLD, I was the Director of the Perfect Chord Choir as well as the conductor of Latrobe University Choral Society in Melbourne, VIC. I was a Committee member of the VIC/TAS Branch of the Australian National Choral Association and a member of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS), the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) and the Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia (KMEIA).
My life is filled with music in a variety of languages. I'm a Choral Conductor and Voice Teacher and I hold a Master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy (the science of teaching how to sing) from Northeastern Illinois University (CGPA 4.0). I also graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Music from the University of Ottawa in Canada. I have been teaching voice to all levels and piano for beginners for more than eight years. Before moving to Yeppoon, QLD, I was the Director of the Perfect Chord Choir as well as the conductor of Latrobe University Choral Society in Melbourne, VIC. I was a Committee member of the VIC/TAS Branch of the Australian National Choral Association and a member of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS), the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) and the Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia (KMEIA).
Born in Montreal, I feel like a world citizen. I lived in Canada for a combined total of sixteen years, in Belgium for eighteen years, in Israel for two and a half years, in Hungary for one year, and in the US for 6 years. I moved with my husband Alan Manifold to Melbourne, Australia in December 2012 where I have established my private studio and moved to Queensland in 2023. Coming from a family of musicians, music has always been an important part of my life: my father Pierre Hétu was a conductor as well as a pianist and my mother, Carollyn Hétu, a singer and clarinetist. At an early age, I studied piano and violin, sang in choirs, and studied music theory and solfège.
My musical experiences are numerous and include concerts with Les Chœurs de l'Union Européenne, Les Pastoureaux, Voices of Bahá - including a concert in Carnegie Hall -- Bahá'í Gospel Singers, the Musica Viva Singers, Cantata Singers. I sang in the Ottawa National Arts Centre’s Ottawa Festival Chorus for the Bach B Minor Mass directed by world renowned Bach specialist Helmut Rilling. In the United States, I sang with the Park Ridge Chorale, the Bahá'í House of Worship Choir in Wilmette, Illinois, and in Australia, I sang in the Melbourne Women's Choir and with Phoenix Singers.
In addition to music, I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Vesalius College (Brussels, Belgium).
A major influence that has contributed to my love and study of music is the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder, writes the following about music:
My musical experiences are numerous and include concerts with Les Chœurs de l'Union Européenne, Les Pastoureaux, Voices of Bahá - including a concert in Carnegie Hall -- Bahá'í Gospel Singers, the Musica Viva Singers, Cantata Singers. I sang in the Ottawa National Arts Centre’s Ottawa Festival Chorus for the Bach B Minor Mass directed by world renowned Bach specialist Helmut Rilling. In the United States, I sang with the Park Ridge Chorale, the Bahá'í House of Worship Choir in Wilmette, Illinois, and in Australia, I sang in the Melbourne Women's Choir and with Phoenix Singers.
In addition to music, I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Vesalius College (Brussels, Belgium).
A major influence that has contributed to my love and study of music is the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder, writes the following about music:
- We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high...
- [Music] has wonderful sway and effect in the hearts of children, for their hearts are pure, and melodies have great influence in them. The latent talents with which the hearts of these children are endowed will find expression through the medium of music. Therefore, you must exert yourselves to make them proficient; teach them to sing with excellence and effect. It is incumbent upon each child to know something of music, for without knowledge of this art the melodies of instrument and voice cannot be rightly enjoyed. Likewise, it is necessary that the schools teach it in order that the souls and hearts of the pupils may become vivified and exhilarated and their lives be brightened with enjoyment.
Please click here for a copy of my curriculum vitae: