Top young opera talent on stage for Dame Malvina Major Foundation Wellington Aria
Talented young opera singers from across the Wellington region will be among the 18 contestants competing for the Dame
Malvina Major Foundation Wellington Aria title on Sunday 18 September.
Convenor Marguerite Tait-Jamieson is encouraging Wellingtonians to come out and support some of the region’s finest
young singers and experience a taste of the amazing opera talent emerging across New Zealand.
“Among the competitors are Lexus Song Quest semi-finalists Emily Mwila and Sophie Sparrow, and a number of students from
Victoria University’s Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music. It promises to be an outstanding occasion.”
The competition will be adjudicated by renowned international bass Martin Snell who himself won first prize in 1991.
Other previous winners have included sopranos Amelia Berry and Isabella Moore and acclaimed tenor Simon O’Neill.
Organised by the Hutt Valley Performing Arts Society, eight finalists will be selected during the preliminary rounds of
the Wellington Regional Vocal Competitions to perform in the final on the Sunday night at St Andrews on the Terrace.
The Dame Malvina Major Foundation Wellington Aria is the third of the 2016 regional Dame Malvina Major Foundation Aria
competitions that feed into New Zealand Aria in Rotorua in late October.
Dame Malvina Major said that competitions such as these enabled promising young performers to develop the edge required
to succeed on the international stage.
“The opportunity to perform and participate in a competition of this calibre is invaluable for young New Zealand
artists. It is a privilege for the Dame Malvina Major Foundation to be able to invest in their future in this way.”
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