Donna-Marie Broomfield (née Hughes) MA, LTCL, DipABRSM, MISM

Donna-Marie Broomfield is a soprano, vocal pedagogue and singing and piano teacher based in Torquay, Devon.

Donna-Marie began her vocal training with Isabel Morrow (1998–2007) and Alison Kettlewell (2007–2013), initially alongside a successful career in media advertising sales and sales management. From 2004 to 2010, she balanced a semi-professional singing career with full-time employment before committing fully to a professional career in music in 2010. A serendipitous encounter with two enthusiastic young singers subsequently sparked her passion for teaching and began what has become an ongoing commitment to the study of vocal pedagogy, voice science and evidence-informed teaching practice.

Since then, Donna-Marie has continued her vocal and artistic development through masterclasses with internationally renowned baritone Donald Maxwell and coaching with British soprano Liza Hobbs and American soprano Julia Radosz. She has performed in numerous operas and opera galas as a solo artist, collaborating with companies and societies throughout England and Europe. Her roles include Susannah in The Marriage of Figaro, Lady in Waiting and Witch in Macbeth, Casilda in The Gondoliers, Melissa in Princess Ida, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, and Gianetta in The Elixir of Love. She has also portrayed Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Aline and Constance in The Sorcerer, Dido and Belinda in Dido & Aeneas, Acis in Acis & Galatea, Anna Gomez in The Consul, Lucy in The Telephone, and covered Lady Dunmow in A Dinner Engagement.

Her oratorio solo work includes Haydn’s Little Organ Mass, Mozart’s Regina Coeli KV108 and Exsultate, Jubilate, Bach’s Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke, and Mozart’s Laudate Dominum. She has also performed in works including Poulenc’s Gloria, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Coronation Mass, Haydn’s The Seasons, Mendelssohn’s Saint Paul, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.

Donna-Marie has performed at a wide variety of prestigious venues and events, including Buckfast Abbey, the Bahrain Grand Prix, the International Marbella Film Festival and The Goring Hotel in London. She was shortlisted for the BBC Radio 2 Dame Kiri Opera Prize in 2010 and, from 2011 to 2014, performed as a solo classical artist for Thomson Holidays’ five-star Sensatori Resorts in Tenerife, Crete and Egypt. In 2013, she sang for more than 35,000 football fans at Brighton & Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium, and performed for them on several occasions between 2013 and 2017, including a memorial match broadcast live on Sky TV in 2015.

Since getting married in 2015, Donna-Marie has increasingly focused her performing work within the South West, appearing regularly in concerts, events and oratorios and as a soloist with Exeter-based Staircase Opera.

Alongside her performing career, Donna-Marie has run a successful private singing and piano teaching practice from her studio in Torquay since 2010. From January 2016 to June 2026, she was a Peripatetic Singing and Piano Teacher at The Maynard School in Exeter. During her ten years at the school, she developed an exceptionally large and successful teaching practice, building the largest peripatetic studio within the school. At its peak, her studio comprised 60 pupils receiving weekly individual tuition, including the substantial majority of the school's singing pupils.

Following ten successful years at Maynard, Donna-Marie chose to move into a new phase of her professional life, reducing the considerable commute between Torquay and Exeter and creating greater space for her private teaching, performing and developing artistic projects. From September 2026, she will also be teaching singing at Torquay Girls’ Grammar School, enabling her to continue her work within education much closer to home.

This new chapter has also seen Donna-Marie establish Devon Vocal Ensemble (DVE), an exciting new performance project bringing together a carefully selected group of Devon-based professional, semi-professional and advanced amateur singers. Rather than operating as a traditional choir, DVE is conceived as a flexible vocal ensemble in which singers can be showcased both individually and collectively through solo, duet, trio and ensemble repertoire. Its programmes span classical, operatic, sacred and musical theatre repertoire, with concerts ranging from intimate lunchtime and afternoon recitals to evening and seasonal performances. The ensemble reflects Donna-Marie’s longstanding commitment to creating high-quality performance opportunities and bringing accomplished singers together in collaborative music-making.

In August 2025, Donna-Marie spent ten days at the Lucca Bel Canto Institute in Italy, immersing herself in intensive study and performance. Working closely with American soprano Julia Radosz and German tenor Ferdinand von Bothmer, together with répétiteurs Robert Pachenec, Petr Yanchuk and Stefano Teani, she refined her vocal technique and deepened her understanding of the Bel Canto tradition. The experience further enriched both her own artistry and the knowledge and insight she brings to her teaching.

Donna-Marie is deeply committed to continuing professional development. In June 2024, she was awarded an MA in Professional Practice (Voice Pedagogy) through The Voice Study Centre and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her postgraduate research explored subjects including hydration and vocal function, the impact of wind instrument playing on the voice, the application of voice science within the teaching studio, hormonal transitions in cisgender female singers, and music performance anxiety. Her final research project investigated practical approaches to performance anxiety, with a particular focus on the use of parasympathetic regulation strategies for singers.

Her continuing areas of professional and research interest include vocal registration and function, belting and contemporary vocal techniques, trauma-informed voice teaching, child development and learning, SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), and child-centred teaching practice.

As both performer and teacher, Donna-Marie remains committed to developing her own artistry and pedagogical knowledge while helping singers of all ages develop healthy, confident and expressive voices.