Choral Conductor and Voice Teacher Lorraine Manifold holds a Master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy (the science of teaching how to sing) from Northeastern Illinois University (CGPA 4.0). She also graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Music from the University of Ottawa in Canada. She has been teaching voice to all levels and piano for beginners for more than thirteen years. She teaches singing at Marymede Catholic College and at Greenhills Primary School. Lorraine is also the Director of the Perfect Chord Choir in Melbourne, and the conductor of the Latrobe University Choral Society. She has studied conducting with Jenny Mathers, has conducted in master classes with Jerry Blackstone, Carl Crossin, Rollo Dilworth, Rodney Eichenberger, María Guinand, Graeme Morton, Jodie Spooner-Ryan and Axel Theimer. She is the co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Bahá'í Choral Festival (see photos below) and is a Committee member of the VIC/TAS Branch of the Australian National Choral Association. Lorraine is also an enthusiastic choral adjudicator and is listed on the adjudicator list of the Australian Choral Conductors Education and Training organisation after completing the course. She is also is a member of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS) and the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME).
Born in Montreal, Lorraine is a world citizen. She 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. She moved with her husband Alan Manifold to Melbourne, Australia in December 2012 where she has established her private studio. Coming from a family of musicians, music has always been an important part of her life: her father Pierre Hétu was a conductor as well as a pianist and her mother, Carollyn Hétu, a singer and clarinetist. At an early age, Lorraine studied piano and violin, sang in choirs, and studied music theory and solfège.
Lorraine’s 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. She 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, she sang with the Park Ridge Chorale, the Bahá'í House of Worship Choir in Wilmette, Illinois, and in Australia, she has sung in the Melbourne Women's Choir and with Phoenix Singers.
In addition to music, Lorraine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Vesalius College (Brussels, Belgium).
A major influence that has contributed to her love and study of music is the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder, writes the following about music:
Born in Montreal, Lorraine is a world citizen. She 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. She moved with her husband Alan Manifold to Melbourne, Australia in December 2012 where she has established her private studio. Coming from a family of musicians, music has always been an important part of her life: her father Pierre Hétu was a conductor as well as a pianist and her mother, Carollyn Hétu, a singer and clarinetist. At an early age, Lorraine studied piano and violin, sang in choirs, and studied music theory and solfège.
Lorraine’s 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. She 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, she sang with the Park Ridge Chorale, the Bahá'í House of Worship Choir in Wilmette, Illinois, and in Australia, she has sung in the Melbourne Women's Choir and with Phoenix Singers.
In addition to music, Lorraine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Vesalius College (Brussels, Belgium).
A major influence that has contributed to her 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.
