In Tune for Wanganui Opera Week

17th December 2014

In Tune for Wanganui Opera Week

Whanganui is tuning up for its annual Opera Week event, 6 to 17 January, when the city thrills to the sounds of New Zealand’s up and coming opera talent. Young singers from around the country and their internationally renowned tutors will deliver another exciting and varied programme at venues around the Whanganui.

A star attraction is New Zealander Simon O’Neill, one of the world’s finest tenors, and a specialist in the great operatic works of Richard Wagner. O’Neill “In conversation” will talk (and possibly sing) about the on and off stage dramas of his career. O’Neill was one of the New Zealand Opera School’s first students in the mid-1990s to now international fame far from his home shores.

Opera school students will delight music lovers at events such as the lunchtime recital at Heritage House, concert evenings at various cafés, the chapel service and public master classes with Paul Farrington, a world leading Classical Voice teacher and renowned Swedish baritone, Håkan Hagegård, A gala concert of Great Opera Moments brings the week to a climax at the Royal Wanganui Opera house.

“It is wonderful to see young people so enthusiastic, how focused they are and how hard they work,” says Wanganui Opera Week’s Renate Schneider. “World class singers have come from the Opera School. Sole Mio started here, and many others. We are very proud of our budding stars.”

ENDS

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