Meet our Trustees and Teachers
Niamh Clune PhD has had a varied and wide career as a singer, songwriter, poet, children's author, and psychotherapist, completing a PhD at Surrey University in learning through the imagination. She has a wealth of live performance and recording experience and recorded with world-renowned record producers such as Tony Clarke of Moody Blues fame, Tod Rundgren of Tom Robinson fame and Mutt Lange of Shania Twain fame. A change of career took her to live and work in Africa to consult for Oxfam, UNICEF and World Food Programme. Niamh has been a passionate environmental campaigner all her life, involved in many Zero Waste campaigns in the UK and Ireland and was invited to speak at the Dail on several occasions, writing and speaking extensively about Resource Recovery and Wealth-from-Waste. In 2004, Niamh was awarded a Social Entrepreneur Award in Ireland for her work in the local community.
In 2019, she founded We Are The Voice Children's Environmental Choir, dedicated to inspiring local environmental change one song at a time. The name of the choir is based on a song Niamh wrote for the World Summit in 2002 in Johannesburg. She and her daughter, Aleisha, performed the song at the opening of the World Summit concert staged by WWF and attended by Nelson Mandela. Niamh is now a devoted grandparent, lead songwriter, music c0-producer and musical co-arranger with her daughter, Aleisha.
"Ali has over 22 years’ experience in TV Production Management and has worked on many different programme formats, including a BAFTA award-winning children’s television. She is married to a cameraman and they have two young boys, who keep them continually busy. She loves working with children of all ages and having the opportunity to nurture their creativity and confidence. "
Aleisha Shimizu gained her MMus, University of Surrey, Composition and Vocal Performance, 2009. BA(HONS) Music with Visual and Performance Art, University of Brighton, 1999, where she studied with the brilliant Juliet Russell of Vocal Explosion.
She has had the pleasure of studying with Mark Meylan, a world-class vocal coach who promotes vocal health and technique in singing, speech and performance.
Whilst studying for her Master's degree, she was coached by Heather Keens, an internationally renowned cross-genre artist who commands both Operatic and Jazz canon repertoire.
She is an experienced performer, studio vocalist and producer, singing teacher and vocal coach. Her recent work as Choir Mistress for We Are the Voice includes original composition and vocal arrangements. She is the choir conductor and music co-producer and is the proud mother of two.