Motueka born Soprano Carleen Ebbs had an active and varied freelance career in London for 15 years working with major opera companies and is now based in Wellington. She gained a Masters of Music in Performance Voice with Distinction at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and specialised in opera training at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice under the tutelage of Dennis O'Neill.

Her international study was supported by a Dame Malvina Major Arts Excellence Award and support from the Deane Endowment Trust. Carleen went on to work regularly with companies including Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, The Royal Opera, The National Theatre (London), Longborough Festival Opera, The London Handel Festival, Birmingham Opera, Festival Opera NZ and Celebrate Voice UK among others, and her core operatic roles are Susanna, Zerlina, Poppea, Morgana, Adele, Lucia and Gilda among others.

Carleen has a great enthusiasm for oratorio, Baroque and early classical repertoire and was a London Handel Singing Competition Finalist, performing under the baton of Laurence Cummings, and a Britten Pears Young Artist in Aldeburgh Suffolk.