Australian soprano, pianist, organist and composer Shauna Beesley has worked abroad for most of her professional life. She sang regularly on the BBC as soloist, including for the BBC Daily Service, and toured the world with groups such as Music Theatre London and Modern Music Theatre Troupe. She has given recitals at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Southbank Centre and also in Spain, France, Syria, Mexico and Switzerland where she now lives.

She has worked extensively in the field of Baroque music with such artists as John Eliot Gardiner, Emma Kirkby and the Hilliard Ensemble. Shauna participated in a cultural exchange in Syria where she sang the role of Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Performances took place in Roman Amphitheatres. Later she returned to Damascus to create an opera workshop on behalf of the British Council. Several of her students are now pursuing singing careers in Europe and the Middle East.

Since moving to Switzerland she has sung in recitals, oratorios and operas and produced chamber operas with her company “Genevox”. Her own opera “Le Procès de Michel Servet” was produced in Geneva to critical acclaim in 2011. She is currently writing a second opera in addition to other choral and instrumental works.

Shauna has been the music director at Emmanuel Church since 2000. She directs the choir and organizes the music for services, special events and concerts. She is also on the singing teaching staff of the Haute Ecole de Musique in Fribourg where she works with Bachelors and Masters students.

Music Director