Opera Otago

Intimate Opera - Meet Stephen Chambers

Stephen has just completed his 8th year as a member of the ensemble at the Landestheater Detmold, Germany. Career highlights in recent years include singing the title roles in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann & Gounod’s Faust; the Mozart roles of Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail – Düsseldorf & Bad Lauchstädt); Ferrando (Così fan tutte – Bregenz festival & Detmold) & Don Ottavio. Some more of the larger roles that he has performed in his time in Detmold include Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly; Hændel’s Jephtha; Lyonel in Martha (also in Graz); Sou-Chong in Das Land des Lächelns; David in Meistersinger; both Eric & Steuermann in Die Fliegender Holländer. Stephen was supported by the Liz Mohn scholarship while he was in the Staatsoper Berlin Opera studio (2013-15). Before this he studied at WIAV (Cardiff), RCS (Glasgow), The Boston Conservatory & firstly, The University of Otago with Judy Bellingham and Isabel Cunningham.

https://ticketing.humanitix.com/tours/intimate-opera-a-dunedin-club-experience

This afternoon four young singers represent Opera Otago. Come along and support them at 2:30pm, Marama Hall, Leith Walk, University of Otago.

Note the change of veneu for this next concert.

Meet our Event Speaker, Jonathan Lemalu!

A Grammy-award winning bass, New Zealand-born Samoan Jonathan Lemalu graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Otago University), and a GradDip in Performance Voice (Opera) with distinction (Royal College of Music) as Queen Elizabeth Rosebowl and Tagore Gold Medal winner. Other awards include joint winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award, ROSL Gold Medal, Gramophone Magazine Debut disc of the year, ECHO Klassiks Awards and RPS Debut Artist of the Year.
Jonathan was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and ECHO Rising Star recitalist who has sung at the Royal Opera House, ENO, WNO, Glyndebourne, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Theater an der Wien, Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric, San Francisco Opera, BBC Proms and Edinburgh, Gergiev, Baden-Baden, Ravinia, Styriarte, Tanglewood, Salzburg and New Zealand Arts festivals in repertoire ranging from Mozart, Britten and Handel to Puccini, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner and contemporary composers Adams, Weir, Panufnik and Heggie. On the concert and recital platform Jonathan has performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall, Philharmonie (Berlin), Musikverein (Vienna), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Symphony Hall (Boston), Carnegie Hall (New York), Cité de la Musique (Paris), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam). His considerable discography consists of Mozart, Gershwin, Handel, Britten, Holst and Heggie operas and song by Poulenc, Wolf, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Brahms, Rodney-Bennett, Finzi and Bolcom.
Recent and upcoming engagements include Banquo/Macbeth (GFO), Rocco/Fidelio (Sydney Opera House), Brander/La Damnation de Faust (LPO, CBSO), Dr Grenvil/La Traviata (ENO), Don Fernando/Fidelio (Glyndebourne), Sacristan/Tosca (ROH, Liceu), Sarastro/Die Zauberflöte (WNO, ENO), Senecca/Poppea (GFO), Mayor/Jenufa (ROH), Manoa/Samson (BBC Proms). In addition to performing, Jonathan completed a PGCert in Higher Education Performance Teaching (GSMD) and is a Professor of Voice at RCM and GSMD, and repertoire coach at the National Opera Studio. Jonathan is patron of the Virtuoso Strings Orchestra, Cantores Choir and Opera Otago, an Ambassador of the Dunedin Arts Festival and a patron of New Zealand Opera. He was recently made FRCM for services to music and ONZM for services to opera.

Tickets on sale now:

https://events.humanitix.com/conversazione-john-drummond-talks-with-jonathan-lemalu?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2OLnC9sdr5JXVWXBH_UHQLaYjBkSwySmpYRySWCnS21g-zW1rMIc2UwX8_aem_kMjRYQP7F9xv72EHNHp8jQ

Come support some of our young singers next Sunday ☺️

Note the change of veneu for this next concert.

Come join us on July 7th for an in-depth talk with Jonathan Lemalu, led by John Drummond

Conversazione - John Drummond talks with Jonathan Lemalu | Humanitix Register on Humanitix - Conversazione - John Drummond talks with Jonathan Lemalu hosted by Opera Otago. Fable Dunedin, 310 Princes Street, Central Dunedin, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. Sunday 7th July 2024. Find event information.

Warmest congratulations to The Trapeze Artists, winner of the City of Literature Beyond Words Award in Dunedin Fringe Festival 2024!

We love this photograph of the incomparable Terry MacTavish accepting the award from MC Harriet Moir.

Heartfelt thanks to The Trapeze Artists team, the Fringe Awards Judges and our awesome Dunedin Fringe! 🎼🤩💜

Absolutely honoured that our Dunedin Fringe show - The Trapeze Artists - was nominated for four different awards, and won the 'Beyond Words' category! Thank you to everyone who supported us with this work, and we will share the link to the SOUNZ recording as soon as it is released!

We are so very grateful to have been apart of this year's . It was a truly magical season, and we are so glad we got to share our mahi with all who came! Also - check out the last three photos! Biggest thank you to the lovely Blake Armstrong for the images!

Closing night is going to be a very important show for multiple reasons - including that the performance will be recorded for SOUNZ as an international official production recording! Last chance to witness the magic live!

Reviews are rolling in! Check out today's ODT and Theatreview!

The Trapeze Artists “Moth at the window, The window dissolves, Wind in the stone, springs Sparks … The trapeze artists Swing out and lock their iron wrists.”

WOWWEE! What an opening to this circus of a show. Only two shows left, including our SOUNZ official recording on Tuesday night. Don't risk the regret of missing this limited season!

Come one, come all! Tickets are going, going... Gone! (if you're not quick that is...)

https://www.dunedinfringe.nz/events/the-trapeze-artists

And we're in! Can't wait to see everyone in a few days!

Check out the amazing write up in the paper today! See you at the show!
https://digital.thestar.co.nz/html5/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=STR%2F2024%2F03%2F14&entity=Ar01001&sk=34D4AC45&mode=text&fbclid=IwAR0eGDxTCyquJaKUr0Hd5GVFtHSr6ZToIyBXf0pB-jqtw7f1nqsz38BJy1w

Petherbridge remembered - The Star, 3/14/2024 Mesmerising . . .Working in rehearsals for chamber opera The Trapeze Artists, to be staged at Hanover Hall this weekend, are singers (at rear) Tessa Romano, Kieran Kelly (left) and Cathy Highton. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Did you know our Dunedin Fringe show is a Poetry Exhibition as well as an Opera? Doors open 30 minutes before the show, so make sure come early to soak in the poems that inspired The Trapeze Artists!

Jim Allen reads Hone Tuwhare Jim Allen reads 'Thine own hands have fashioned'. This poem features in his work Tribute to Hone Tuwhare, which is on show in Te Papa's contemporary art exhi...

First rehearsals for "The Trapeze Artists" are done... Hope you're as excited as we are! Get your tickets before they fly out the door!
https://www.dunedinfringe.nz/events/the-trapeze-artists

Are you keen to sing with our chorus in 2024?

We've got another round of chorus auditions coming up, so if you're a tenor in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland or a tenor or baritone in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, we'd love to hear from you.

AUDITION DETAILS:

CHRISTCHURCH (TENORS AND BARITONES)
📆 Sunday, March 3rd
🕓 9.30am - 11.30am
📍The Piano
Applications close Feb 28th

AUCKLAND (TENORS ONLY)
📆 Friday, March 8th
🕑 6pm - 8pm
📍NZ Opera Studio
Applications close March 5th

Please contact [email protected] to arrange an audition time and please note: we’d love to hear you in person, but if this is not possible for you, we are able to accept video submissions.

We are honoured to be recognised alongside so many other fantastic artists and companies in this year's theatre awards, with our lovely designer Charmian Smith being nominated for her hard work costuming The Mansfield Trilogy. Congratulations Charmian, and all the other nominees!

Awards finalists announced The Dunedin Theatre Reviewers Collective has announced the finalists for this month’s 12th Dunedin Theatre Awards. The awards, which have been...

Abhinath Berry has been studying piano with Blair Professor Terence Dennis since 2019. He attained a Bachelor of Music with first-class Honours in Performance and Composition from the University of Otago’s School of Performing Arts in 2022. Abhinath has recently been named the winner of several national awards, including Creative New Zealand’s Jack McGill Scholarship, a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence Award, and the Judith Clark Memorial Fellowship. Since 2019, he has been awarded all possible prizes from the School of Performing Arts in performance, composition, and academic music. In his final year, he was awarded the Victor Galway Medal, Simon Gibson Memorial Prize, Charles Begg Prize, Prestige Scholarship in Music, and the Ida G. White Memorial Prize.

Abhinath was awarded a Young Artists’ Award from the Wagner Society of New Zealand and has presented a second national recital tour in 2023 featuring works of Liszt and Wagner-Liszt. In 2021, he was awarded a FAME Emerging Practitioner Award, and the Graduates’ Association award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts and Culture.

Abhinath is also a composer, and was the winner of the 2022 Lilburn Prize for his Sonata-Fantasie for solo piano, and in 2021 for his String Quartet No. 2. His work Prologue from Metamorphoses was selected for the Todd Corporation Young Composers' Award, and was performed and recorded by the NZSO. At present, Abhinath is continuing to present recitals across New Zealand, most recently, a recital in the Chiron Lewis Eady Foundation’s Emerging Artist concert series in Auckland.

The Nicholas Tarling Aria Competition 2024 is open for entries! Whether you’re an experienced vocalist or just starting out on your musical journey, we invite you to showcase your talent in the Digital Round. Record a video of yourself singing, upload it to YouTube, and complete an application form by 30 November 2023.

With a first prize of $5,000, a second prize of $3,000, and special categories for “most promising” and “18 and under”, plus a chance to perform on stage with the Manukau Symphony Orchestra, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Visit www.tarlingaria.org.nz to learn more!