BALLARAT

Kristiana Withers has over 35 years experience in music and teaching music, English and French. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance – majoring in Voice and Oboe (Queensland Conservatorium of Music), a Bachelor of Education – Primary and Secondary majoring in Music and ESL (Deakin University, Burwood) and a Diploma in Modern Languages – French (University of New England, Armidale). She lives with her family in Ballarat and is currently teaching at two schools and enjoying being a grandma to her eldest daughter’s first child.

Since moving to Ballarat from Melbourne in 2006, she has performed in various groups on a variety of instruments including Ballarat Symphony Orchestra (percussion), Ballarat Wind Orchestra (percussion), Ballarat Memorial Concert Band (various brass, wind and percussion), Haddon Concert Band (saxophone, trombone), Seb Big Band (baritone sax and vocals), worship leading at her local church and she currently performs in a 5-piece cello ensemble and sings and plays in a trad style band “Duck ‘n’ Weave”.

She discovered Creativity Australia’s With One Voice program in Ballarat in 2018 while looking for somewhere to sing with others. Her commitment to the choir was regularly interrupted by musical rehearsals as she held the position as Choral Director in three Ballarat Lyric shows – “Les Miserables” in 2020, “We Will Rock You” in 2021/2022 and “Annie” in 2024. She offered to be a temporary fill-in conductor in 2023 when the original conductor resigned, and she has remained in this position these past two years.