Welcome to our latest newsletter European Romance

Welcome to our latest newsletter
What wet and wild weather we are experiencing at the moment!
Our tinny team on the Modern Musicals trip seem to be just
avoiding it wherever they go. The South Island freeze last week
was just behind them as they came up the country. Arthur’s Pass
was closed 2 hours after they went through and in the North Island the storms are north when they are south and vice versa.
If you haven't caught our team on Modern Musicals yet, do feel
free to pop along to any of the lower North Island shows this
week and next, and a few Auckland venues and Tauranga left as
well. This is a great show with some choreography courtesy of
Sonja our travel manager.
Noosa was a wonderful trip and feels like a long time ago but had a great time with Marian and Ben McDonald and us
providing some lovely fun concerts. More than a few laughs along the way I can assure you!
European Romance
Nationwide tour 30 July - 1 Sep 2014
European Romance, in the style of Andre Rieu takes the
great classics and presents them in a way that makes the
music accessible while still keeping its integrity and beauty.
Jessica Hindin, violinist, who has toured extensively in the
States and Europe is joined by three top singers and Penny
Dodd on piano to bring a concert which journeys to Europe
and back without leaving your home town.
European Romance celebrates the best of Europe, waltzes
and timeless melodies, presented with a bit of fun as well as
with great respect to these gorgeous tunes. It is a privilege to
sing this magnificent music and a privilege to present the
best possible concert to our great audiences.
Starring: Susan Boland, Bonaventure Allan-Moetaua,
Jessica Hindin & Amanda Atlas (accompanied by Penny Dodd).
At Your Place Sep / Oct 2014
We still have spaces available on the South Island leg of our At Your Place Concert Tour, in early October!
We present From Broadway to the Westend, a celebration of music theatre through the ages, showcasing great
show tunes from Ivor Novello and Irving Berlin through to Andrew Lloyd Webber and everything in between with four
great singers and accompanist. Our confirmed cast for this year is: Derek Hill, Alex Milligan, Adam Thompson, Eli Moore
and Tizane McEvoy. Please call our toll free number 0508 266 237 and speak to Bridget for further info.
Update on Cameron Barclay
John and I were lucky enough to catch up with the lovely Cameron Barclay recently on a quick trip
back to NZ in between his concert with the 10 Tenors. He is in great form just the same and as lovely as ever. He has been touring with them from the beginning of the year and his travels have taken
him on a tour of the States and Australia and he is just about to embark on a tour of South America
and Europe. He has also met some incredible people along the way including Celine Dion, Morgan
Freeman and Geoffrey Rush. Well done Cameron – we love you and miss you!
Norfolk Island
Music Festival
March 29th - April 5th, 2015
Just wanted to give you a little
more detail now about the Norfolk
Island Music Festival. We all so
enjoyed the Waitomo Caves Music Tour with the special flavours
and wonderful backdrops that created such a synergy between music and location, so we decided to
take that special feel off shore for a music festival week in Norfolk.
Those of you who have been to Norfolk will know that it has a very dramatic coastline
and turbulent history. We take these great backdrops and present amazing concerts
related to these backdrops. The premium event is our Gala Amongst the Ruins where
we present a powerful and moving concert with the haunting backdrop of the Convict
ruins. It will be spine-tingling stuff with best loved melodies and timeless classics echoing off the hard stone buildings constructed by the convicts.
Another special event will take place on top of the cliffs. Entitled the Mad Hatters Tea
Party we will sing more comic songs, enjoy a Mad Hatters Tea Party and lots of games
including paint the roses red, all of this adorned in mad hats and costumes if you
choose.
Sue, John and 10 musicians in total will be there to provide us with great events with
mainstream music ranging from Glenn Miller and music theatre, right through to opera.
To view the full itinerary, visit our website or feel free to call us and request a copy.
General Travel Update
The trips for late 2014 and 2015 that have very few spaces left
are as follows:
Southern Lakes & Fiords (Nov 29 - Dec 03, 2014) 8 spaces left
Sydney New Year’s Eve (Dec 27, 2014 - Jan 02, 2015) including La Boheme and Midnight Party at Sydney Opera House –
10 spaces left
England and Wales (Aug 10 - Sep 05, 2015) including Downton
Abbey - 12 spaces left
Italy Opera Tour (June 03 - July 01, 2015) tickets for operas La
Traviata, Venice, Aida and Tosca Verona all confirmed 5 spaces left
Fiji 3 Tenors Tour (May 20 - May 29, 2015) – more than half full.
All other trips have plenty of capacity at this stage.
Loud Shirt Day!
As you know, Operatunity is very proud to support The Hearing
House, a children's charity that helps profoundly deaf children like
Peyton develop listening skills and spoken language. Its big fundraiser is Loud Shirt Day on Friday September 19 which involves wearing a loud shirt and donating to help deaf children who
have cochlear implants receive the specialised therapy that they
need to allow them to talk. It's a great fun day and ideal for retirement villages, bridge clubs, rest homes - or even to get a group of friends together to
wear some wacky shirts and donate to help these deaf babies.
Fitting in with our Fabulous 50s and 60s theme, Loud Shirt Day this year has a florals
and flares theme and Operatunity will be encouraging those at our September concerts to wear their favourite Loud Shirt and make a small donation to The Hearing
House. For your free fundraising pack, register today at www.loudshirtday.co.nz
Update on Hannah Smith's Operation
Some of you may remember last year in October we had an article about Hannah Smith and family who were fundraising for an
operation to assist Hannah with her cerebral palsy. We have just
received an update on her situation, and the operation will be taking place in St Louis USA on 5th Sep. Hannah is really excited
about all that is going to happen for her, she will be turning 14 on
9th July. The family wants to thank all who have helped them get
this far and they are well on the way with the fundraising.
Feature Artist this
month - Amanda Atlas
Upcoming in August we have New
Zealand soprano Amanda Atlas, joining our wonderful
cast of artists on
our European Romance tour of Daytime Concerts. Amanda embarked
on her international career in
1999, spending ten years singing
for various opera companies and
orchestras in the US and Europe.
Role highlights include Verdi’s
Amelia, Leonora, Alice Ford
and Desdemona; Puccini’s Tosca, Suor Angelica, Musetta, Mimi,
and Madama Butterfly; Poulenc’s
one-woman opera La Voix Humaine; Mascagni’s Suzel;
Weill’s Rose; Offenbach’s Giulietta. Recent concert repertoire
includes Bruckner’s F Minor
Mass, and Strauss’ Four Last
Songs and Mahler’sSecond Symphony with the Birmingham Philharmonic.
To read more about Amanda,
please visit our website!
Staff Update
The office has been abuzz with
activity over the last few weeks
and we have all been so busy
with various things both in and out
of work! Sonja, our Travel Manager spent quite a bit of time working on choreography with our
Modern Musicals cast; Lynette,
our Office Manager is away on
tour singing with our Modern Musicals cast; Lisa in Travel, recently
returned from our Noosa trip with
our lovely group of travellers;
Bridget, who looks after our concert bookings and logistics, was
recently away playing the bassoon for the Southern Sinfonia in
Dunedin; Rose, who looks after
media and marketing, just had her
first book published, a selection of
poetry; Alex, our part time office
support, recently sang at Dame
Kiri's 70th birthday celebration
and Allen, our accountant, has
just successfully passed his full
drivers licence!
There is always something new
happening around here which
keep things interesting!
CONTACT US:
Concerts
Travel
P: 0508 266 237 (toll free)
P: 0508 886 489 (toll free)
www.operatunity.co.nz
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