Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Rua (Te Whakatōhea) and Ngāti Kahungunu.

M.Mus(Dis)(Otago), M.CP(Ara), BA(Auckland), BMus(Auckland), LRSM(Classical Guitar) and LLB(Hons)(Sydney).

Born in Southland, New Zealand, Deborah has performed in operas, musical theatre, contemporary Māori music, arts festivals, proms, concerts, recitals, self-accompanied guitar and voice recitals, and special events throughout New Zealand and Australia, as well as in the UK, Asia Pacific Region, and South Africa.

Deborah was fortunate to study voice with the late Beatrice Webster, who was a pupil of Lucie Manèn. After studying with Mrs. Webster, Deborah studied for a year with the Young Artists Program of Opera Australia in 1994. Twelve years later, Deborah refreshed her voice with a Master of Music in 2006 at the University of Otago under the supervision of Ms. Cunningham (also a pupil of Mrs. Webster) and Professor Terence Dennis.

Deborah’s traditional operatic and musical theatre roles include Lily in The Secret Garden (Ascot Group New Zealand Tour), Pamina in The Magic Flute (Opera Australia and Wellington Opera), Mimi in La Boheme (New Zealand Opera), Papagena (OZ Opera tour of NSW, VIC, TAS, WA, and NT) Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (Whanganui Opera), Sophie in Massenet’s Werther (Beijing International Arts Festival), Adalgisa in Norma (Canterbury Opera), Nannetta in Falstaff (New Zealand Opera), Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (Canterbury Opera), Leila in The Pearl Fishers (New Zealand Opera), Marguerite in Faust (Hong Kong), Carmen (University of Otago Alumni Opera) and Euridice / Eurydice in Orfeo / Orpheus / (m)Orpheus (New Zealand Opera).