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

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) 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 prayer and ...

who is best known for training some of the world's finest

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

s, including Mina Foley, Dames

Malvina Major Dame Malvina Lorraine Major (born 28 January 1943) is a New Zealand opera soprano. Early life and family Major was born in Hamilton on 28 January 1943, the daughter of Vincent and Eva Major. She grew up in a large musical family, and as a chil ...

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December ...

, Mona Ross and Heather Begg. She was born as Kathleen Agnes Niccol in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and educated by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

. 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 the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public religious vows, vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, a ...

in tending to the sick and needy. Sister Mary Leo initially began her teaching career as a

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

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

Deanna Durbin Edna May Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born American soprano and actress, who moved to the U.S. from Canada with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1 ...

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

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

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

world with student

Jan Hellriegel Jan Hellriegel is a singer/songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her first recorded appearances were with Dunedin band Working With Walt in the mid-1980s when she studied at the University of Otago in Dunedin. She then formed all-woman b ...

. 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two 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 The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1973 Queen's Birthday Honours. She died in 1989, aged 94.

References

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