Dame Sister Mary Leo Niccol (3 April 18955 May 1989) was a New Zealand

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pra ...

who is best known for training some of the world's finest sopranos, including Dames

Malvina Major Dame Malvina Lorraine Major (born 28 January 1943) is a New Zealand opera soprano. Early life Major was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, into a large musical family. As a child she performed at various concerts, singing mainly country and wester ...

, Kiri Te Kanawa, and

Heather Begg Dame Isoleen Heather Begg (1 December 1932 – 12 May 2009) was a New Zealand-born operatic mezzo-soprano who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom and Australia. She was renowned in roles such as the title role in Bizet's '' Carmen'' ...

. She was born as Kathleen Agnes Niccol in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

and educated by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

. She had a talent for music and eventually adopted the vocation of a teacher of music. She took private classes in dancing, elocution, and singing. She joined the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 28, taking the religious name Sister Mary Leo. She occupied herself in the work of her religious institute in tending to the sick and needy. Sister Mary Leo initially began her teaching career as a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

teacher. She never received formal training in vocal technique. It was in the late 1930s, after she heard a recording of

Deanna Durbin Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With t ...

and was so taken with Durbin's natural tone, flexible technique, vocal range, and repertoire that included both opera and light music, that she decided to devote her time to teaching singing. She developed the already strong musical tradition of St Mary's College in Auckland, with its orchestra, choirs, and individual tuition, and also conducted the Sisters' Choir. From 1934, the college offered private tuition, and her reputation as a vocal coach flourished. From 1950 on, honours and plaudits followed the success of such students as Dame

, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame

, Mina Foley, Judith Edwards, Elisabeth Hellawell, Patricia Price, Mona Ross and Elaine Dow; Leo's influence extended into the

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

world with student Jan Hellriegel. In 1980 the Grand Opera Society of Auckland established the Dame Sister Mary Leo Scholarship in her honour. She was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to music, in the

1963 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1963 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to ''The Lon ...

, and elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1973 Queen's Birthday Honours. She died in 1989, aged 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leo, Mary 1895 births 1989 deaths New Zealand music teachers Voice teachers New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Musicians awarded knighthoods New Zealand schoolteachers People from Auckland Sisters of Mercy 20th-century New Zealand Roman Catholic nuns Women music educators