Our Team Executive

Catherine has diverse experience as a resilience and HRM professional as well as working as an academic in management and ethics. Coupled with experience working globally in a range of sectors, she considers multiple perspectives to develop an informed view.   Catherine’s significant exposure to and engagement with Board-level decision-making, enables her to consider strategy and operational issues. As a thought leader in the business continuity community, Catherine has engaged globally with sector colleagues to share knowledge and experiences.  

She holds a Masters in Commerce (Organisation & Management), and an Honours degree majoring in Australian history and in the past five years, Catherine has volunteered her skills for the Business Continuity Institute, City of Parramatta’s Historical Advisory Committee and local school Parents & Friends Associations.

Catherine commenced her choral experience aged 10, as a member of Australian Youth Choir, and was a founding member of VOX.  During the early VOX period, choristers self-organised all logistics, marketing and operational components of performances, and Catherine was a key contributor. She has performed in a number of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs performances and was delighted to join River City Voices at its inauguration.

Catherine is passionate about the artistic and cultural possibilities for the Western Sydney Region and is thrilled to contribute as a chorister and Board member.

​

Schon has a career spanning over 40 years in Accounting focusing on Financial, Operational, Sustainability and Management advice to help businesses during times of growth, stabilisation and difficulty. He is well recognised within the profession as a leading advisor and media spokesperson. His professional role has seen him in numerous leadership and command roles including President of the Parramatta Chamber of Commerce, Chair of CPA Public Practice Committee, Chairman Hawkesbury Business Connection and President of the Royal Australian Artillery Association of NSW Inc.
Schon holds a Bachelor of Business Degree from the University of Technology Sydney and a Graduate Diploma in Management from the University of Canberra. He is a fellow of the Chartered Accountants ANZ, Institute of Public Accountants, CPA Australia, and former member of the State and National Public Practice committees, Taxation Institute of Australia, Foundation Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and Member of the Association of Independent Insolvency Practitioners.

In addition, Schon is a Commissioned Officer in the Australian Army and has maintained an active Army Reserve career, including being a former Commanding Officer of 23rd Field Regiment, Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.
 

Inara Molinari brings to the choir a career spanning 25+ years that has focused predominantly on voice as a professional opera soloist and chorister, early music singer, artistic administrator and producer, and more recently, as an office manager at Westmead Hospital. Her connection with the arts scene in western Sydney began twenty years ago, when she established “Opera West”in Wentworthville, a weekly course for aspiring opera and music theatre singers.

After returning from the USA in 2000, Inara founded “The Tall Poppeas”, Sydney’s only female baroque vocal ensemble that delivered innovative programs throughout Sydney and interstate for ten years, including staging an original opera for the Darlinghurst Theatre (now Hayes Theatre) and Melbourne Fringe Festival and a featured program for the Historic Houses Trust at Government House.

In 2011, Inara co-founded Ondine Productions. Its first project was fully staging the Australian premiere performance of "La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina" (1625), by the first female composer of opera, Francesca Caccini. The production received critical acclaim and was short-listed for an ArtsHub award in 2012. Subsequently the company produced the first reduced semi-staging of Philip Glass's opera "Akhnaten" on early instruments, with infused bespoke perfume and with the composer's thumbs up !

Inara has been a passionate community advocate and volunteer in her local 'hoods of Granville and Parramatta, forging strong relationships with local government, community and arts organisations, including membership of Cumberland City Council's Arts Advisory Committee, 2018-2019. She holds Bachelor degrees in Arts/Law (USyd) and Nursing (ACU), and a Diploma in Operatic Studies (Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

​

The Advisory Committee was established from RCV's inception to provide local industry knowledge for the choir and Board during its establishment period and first year of operations. The Committee members are:

​

• Robert Love, AM, Director, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta

• Brett Weymark, Artistic and Music Director, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

• Cath Dadd, Executive Producer, Performing Arts, The Joan, Penrith

• A/Professor Diana Blom, Music, Western Sydney University, Kingswood

• Dr Paul Smith, Lecturer in Music, University of New England, FutureCampus Parramatta

• Bill Soper, Chartered Accountant

​

​