full programme booklet for the opera here

Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music presents
26–30 JULY 2013
OPERA HOUSE WELLINGTON
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the New Zealand School
of Music’s 2013 opera production. Two years ago, our production
of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a big stretch for
us; taking on a Verdi opera in the Wellington downtown Opera
House is even more ambitious. Again, though, while the scope
of resources needed to stage a full-scale opera are daunting,
the educational and artistic rewards are correspondingly rich.
We are particularly proud to be presenting the New Zealand
premiere performance of Il corsaro during the 200th anniversary
of Verdi’s birth.
Professor Elizabeth Hudson
Director, Te Kōkī New Zealand
School of Music
Our heartfelt thanks go to the generous individuals who have
helped make this production possible; the support of the
Wellington City Council is particularly important, as without
their grant we simply could not afford to produce an opera
on this scale. Our ongoing commitment to productions of this
sort is born out of our passion for providing the highest level
of training for our students, and creating pre-professional
educational opportunities for New Zealanders within New
Zealand on a scale otherwise only available internationally. We
should all acknowledge the fantastic work of our creative and
production team, as well as the hard work and dedication of all
the talented students who are taking part in the production.
A special vote of thanks, as always, must go to the wonderful
NZSM teachers and coaches, whose zeal and commitment,
experience and dedication, make this all possible. Kia ora koutou katoa
Welcome to the Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music’s
season of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il corsaro.
Te Kōkī is an extremely talented part of Wellington’s creative
scene. This year’s production will show just how hard the
students have been working and how gifted they are. This
is the first time Il corsaro will be performed in New Zealand
at this scale and audiences will be thrilled by the quality and
emotion of the production.
After stepping into the world of Il corsaro, take time out to
indulge in one of Wellington’s many cafés and restaurants
and debate the characters’ desires and actions.
Celia Wade-Brown
Mayor of Wellington City
Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music presents
26, 27, 28, 30 JULY 2013
OPERA HOUSE, WELLINGTON
Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave,
based on Lord Byron’s poem, The Corsair
The first performance was given at the
Teatro Grande in Trieste on
25 October 1848
The performance lasts approximately
one hour and fifty minutes including
one interval of twenty minutes
Sung in Italian with
English surtitles
This production is using the Verdi Critical Edition published jointly
by the University of Chicago Press and Ricordi in 1998
1
Windswept
landscapes,
looming dread,
and passions
By Sara Brodie, Director of Il corsaro
Premiered at the pinnacle of the Romantic era in 1848,
Il corsaro includes everything possible to sate the
Romantic. Moreover, the opera is loyally based upon
the epic poem The Corsair by Lord Byron, a figure who
encapsulated Romanticism itself. I cannot but help
imagine Byron, standing atop the mount within a
brooding landscape, somewhat like the hero in his poem,
Conrad:
“That man of loneliness and mystery,
Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh”
(I, VIII)
If we transpose Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer
for a Conrad he would be contemplating the Aegean
Sea from his island cliff top at sunset and would make
a very suitable operatic leading man. Enter Corrado,
a.k.a. Conrad, a.k.a. Byron himself, whose thinly veiled
Romantic heroes made him all the more alluring to his
adoring public.
Byron’s grand tour, longer than the norm at two and a
half years, took him through a war-torn Europe as far
as the court of Ali Pasha in Albania. Forced to return
to England through a lack of funds, Byron set about
turning his exploits into verse. Published in 1811, The
Corsair, though not the most famous of his exotic epics,
combined plenty to satisfy his by now ‘Childe Harold’imbibed and eager public. Uncanny forebodings, the vast
Aegean, pirates battling an Ottoman Pasha, a flaming
citadel, two heroines, unrequited love, torture, murder
and suicide are all offered up within the Byronic epic.
Verdi goes even further by adding a storm and a harem
scene.
2
But in the poem everything revolves around Conrad, a
forlorn and somewhat feminised antihero who Byron
cannot help but dote on, describing him in what
seems ever obsessive detail. True as Piave and Verdi’s
interpretation is to the poem, they release us from
Byron’s lugubrious egomania. Conrad’s strange and
almost bipolar persona is quickly dealt with in Corrado’s
opening melancholic cavatina and contrastingly heroic
cabaletta, and then it’s on with the action with no further
navel gazing. It also gave the composer and librettist
room to focus on the women involved.
Two heroines may seem to be rather generous and
indeed in the world of opera it posed a problem as
there can be only one prima donna. Medora, the more
moderate and feminine, is the model wife (although
somewhat fixated with death). In contrast Gulnara, the
concubine, is a handful who breaks all the rules – a skill in
which Byron excelled. Thus Conrad/Corrado is not nearly
as heroic as he should be and it is Gulnara who ultimately
gets on with the manly actions from which he recoils.
Verdi and Piave resisted the urge of previous interpreters
to have Corrado fit into the operatic mould of Romantic
hero. They stay true to the Byronic hero (or antihero), who
is all the more interesting because he is not perfect. Such
role reversals and inversions of masculine and feminine
attributes were shocking – but perhaps too good to cut.
It was logical for Gulnara to occupy the prima position in
the opera but it is Medora who has the most memorable
music and her Romanza Non so le tetre immagini is the
most performed outside of the full opera.
A few details were removed from Byron’s original
such as the tell-tale blood spot on Gulnara’s face. It
was one thing to imagine Gulnara as a murderess, but
perhaps a step too far to actually see the evidence
onstage. For Verdi, the way in which Gulnara entered
the stage would be eloquent enough. It is the one
piece of detailed evidence we have about how Verdi
would have his opera performed (thanks to his prima
donna writing for advice). He obviously trusted his
performers and the sentiment of his music to reveal
all without the need for further theatrics.
Verdi and Piave’s Il corsaro offers up swift, dramatically
balanced storytelling, freed from the introversion
of the poem. The windswept landscapes, looming
dread, and passions supplied by Byron are
embraced by Verdi in a score which is as blatantly
grand as it is melodramatic. It is hard to subdue
such extravagances and it seems criminal to do so.
Therefore I plan to keep within the Byronic frame,
and retain the splendour in an unabashedly Romantic
production in which Byron will never be too far
removed from the picture.
Caspar David Friedrich
The Wanderer above
The Sea Of Fog
3
PRESENTS
Bravo!
Britten
ST MARY OF THE ANGELS CHURCH
Wellington
FRIDAY 13 SEPT 7:00pm
Programme One by candlelight
SATURDAY 14 SEPT 7:00pm
Programme Two by candlelight
Igor Stravinsky - Concertino
Frank Bridge - Idyll No.1, Piece No.2 and No.3
Benjamin Britten - Quartet No.1
Henry Purcell- 2 Fantasias
Franz Schubert - Quartettsatz in C Minor, D.703
Benjamin Britten - Quartet No.3
Interval
Interval
W.A. Mozart - Quartet in Bb Major, K.589
Maurice Ravel - Quartet in F Major
$48 ADULT $40 FRIENDS OF NZSQ , NZSO & CMNZ SUBSCRIBERS
$40PP - GROUP OF 6+ $43 SENIOR CONCESSIONS $15 STUDENT RUSH (ON DAY OF CONCERT)
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT TICKETEK www.ticketek.co.nz or phone 0800 TICKETEK
www.nzsq.co.nz
*SERVICE FEES APPLY
Celebrating
Verdi
By Professor Elizabeth Hudson, Director of Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music
(several in two versions), nineteen had been
produced by 1853; fifteen of those were written
across only nine years (1844–1853). Basically, Verdi
mastered his craft through writing at a killing
pace and working intensively with librettists,
impresarios and singers to craft and stage each
opera.
Giuseppe Verdi
Celebrations of birth anniversaries can seem
like a fairly meaningless display. But they can
actually invite us to reflect on the way our
perceptions of a composer, and his music,
have shifted and changed with the passage
of time. Giuseppe Verdi had lived so long that in 1913, the
centenary of his birth year, he had only been dead
for a mere twelve years. At that point in history,
his enormous influence on the very nature of our
understanding of the experience of the opera
house was by no means as obvious and secure as
it is today. It is in the last hundred years, since that
first centenary, that some of Verdi’s operas have
grown to dominate the opera house experience.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine the very genre of
opera without works like Macbeth, Rigoletto and
La traviata, Aida, Otello, and Falstaff. And yet across
the last hundred years, we have actually only just
begun to come to terms with a number of the
composer’s lesser known works, Il corsaro among
them.
Verdi was in his thirties before he had a secure
reputation in Italy as an opera composer. He then
dominated the scene with a flurry of activity. Of
the twenty-eight operas Verdi wrote in his lifetime
Much of what Verdi wrote across those early
years (including works such as Nabucco, Ernani
and Macbeth) continues to delight audiences
today. At the end of what could be thought of
as an exhaustive on-the-job apprenticeship,
Verdi’s so-called middle period style emerged,
exemplified in three works that both defined
him artistically and dramatically, and gave him
the financial security to slow down his pace of
composition: that is, Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La
traviata (1851–1853). However, the nine operas
(and various revised versions) that Verdi wrote
across the ensuing forty years – Falstaff in 1893
officially ending his career as a composer – each
were composed in quite a different context, with
more time to consider the musical and dramatic
shape of each opera on its own terms.
Il corsaro was completed in 1848, towards the end
of those early years, as Verdi was on the cusp of
pulling together various musical elements into
a new kind of synergy of lyric expression and
dramatic energy. In Il corsaro, we can see signs
of Verdi’s obsession with moving the plot along
quickly, often sacrificing careful explication of
background and motivations to keep the action
from stalling. At the same time, perhaps because
the source text was itself a poem, an emphasis
on the intensive interiority of all four of the
main characters leads to a striking intensity of
musical lyricism throughout the opera. Perhaps
most interestingly, Verdi’s treatment of Byron’s
unconventional characters, who do not always sit
easily with the vocal types prevalent at the time,
reveals aspects of a new Romantic vision that only
came fully to fruition with characters like Rigoletto
and Azucena – and that still stand out in relation
to tenor and soprano roles across the nineteenth
century repertoire.
5
Re-Discovering
Il corsaro
Notes on the Verdi critical edition, used in this
performance, by Professor Elizabeth Hudson,
Director of Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music
In the 1990s as I was just launching my career, I
was privileged to be invited by the series editor
of the Verdi critical edition to edit the volume
on Il corsaro. I confess that at the time, even with
a doctoral dissertation completed on Verdi, I
still knew next to nothing about Il corsaro: but
the editions of all the well known operas had
previously been assigned to senior scholars. I was
advised that Il corsaro would be a great work to
take on: It is not too long! The source history is
clearcut! No other published orchestral edition
exists!
Within the rather arcane world of critical editions
of composers’ works, the Verdi critical edition,
published jointly by the University of Chicago
Press and Ricordi, has established itself as a special
kind of project. Opera scores are big: there are
simply lots of notes and lots of parts. And the
nature of the opera industry in the 19th century, in
which scores were living documents to negotiate
with in performance and to change at will, is
quite at odds with the reverence we now accord
to the composer’s authority. Some editions
– the Donizetti critical edition, for instance –
make corresponding adjustments to editorial
criteria. Not so the Verdi critical edition: in these
publications, editors are required not only to
create a modern functioning performance edition,
but also to distinguish typographically every
note and marking made by the composer in the
autograph score. So, for instance, if the composer
put in a staccato in 14 out of 15 parts, the edition
will show for all users that the 15th staccato mark
was put in by the editor. In addition, editors
must note (in a separate book) every change that
Verdi ever made in the process of composition.
(We can see that Verdi erased something? Note
it!). And of course the compositional genesis and
subsequent performance history of the work must
be thoroughly researched.
Obviously, this adds up to an extremely
painstaking job. Fortunately all that detailed work
did indeed lead to a number of crucial insights
into Verdi’s compositional process that are quite
important in assessing Il corsaro today. I could
demonstrate how closely Verdi was involved in
– and enthusiastic about – the opera’s dramatic
conception. I discovered that the libretto was
based directly on a particular Italian translation
of Byron’s The Corsair, basically ignoring the other
ballet and opera versions of The Corsair circulating
in Italy at the time. Even more importantly, it
became clear that Verdi’s seeming indifference
to the opera, once finished, was the by-product
of a business relationship gone sour rather
than any kind of artistic judgement against the
opera itself. The latter incorrect assumption has
governed much of Il corsaro’s critical reception.
And most interestingly, I discovered that one
of the opera’s most lovely aspects – the varied
repetition featured in most of the opera’s big
numbers – in fact emerged at the very last stage
of the compositional process. Thus it may even
have been a by-product of the opera’s unique
history: that is, because Verdi knew he would not
be involved in coaching the singers for the opera’s
premiere, he may have been inspired to write up
his own variants to govern future performances.
7
Synopsis
Prelude
Lord Byron commences writing The Corsair. The orchestra
opens with tempestuous ‘storm music’ before settling
into a lyrical subject of great simplicity. Act I
Scene 1: The Aegean island hideout of the Corsairs
The Corsairs arrive celebrating their life of freedom, and
the fickleness of fortune. Their chief, Corrado, incites
them to declare war upon all men, yet privately he recalls
the innocence of his life before he turned to crime.
Giovanni arrives delivering a letter containing military
news of the Turkish Pasha, Seid. Corrado rallies the
Corsairs to prepare to attack their foe.
Scene 2: Medora’s quarters on the island.
Medora is waiting anxiously for her lover Corrado. She
cannot banish from her mind the dark forebodings
that she is doomed to lose him. She fantasises about
him lamenting over her dead body. Corrado arrives to
reassure her, but also to tell of his imminent departure.
Despite her pleas he leaves.
Act II
Scene 1: The harem of Pasha Seid. Coron, Greece
A chorus of odalisques (slave girls), delight in the gifts
given to the Pasha’s favourite Gulnara. In spite of her
lauded position, Gulnara loathes Seid and chafes at life
in the harem. She longs for her homeland, for freedom
and true love. A eunuch brings her a summons to Seid’s
anticipatory celebration banquet which she accepts,
inviting the odalisques to join in.
8
Scene 2: The banquet on Coron’s shores
Seid salutes his followers and leads them in a solemn
prayer. A dervish is admitted, asking for protection from
the Corsairs. He is questioned and his story accepted.
Suddenly flames light the sky. The Pasha’s fleet is
burning. The dervish throws off his disguise to reveal
himself as Corrado, as his Corsairs invade. The Corsairs
have the upper hand in the ensuing battle. When the
harem catches fire Corrado ensures the women are saved
and promises to protect them. This delay gives Seid time
to regroup and to seize the victory. Seid derides the
defiant fallen hero. The odalisques, especially Gulnara,
find their amorous feelings aroused by their would-be
saviours. In spite of their pleas to spare Corrado for saving
their lives, Seid condemns him to an agonizing death.
Act III
Scene 1: Seid’s apartments
While Seid is enjoying his victory over the Corsairs, he
complains that, of all the women available to him, the
one whom he loves has spurned him. He suspects she
has fallen for the Corsair and summons her. Gulnara
pleads for a softer sentence for Corrado, suggesting
Seid could win a handsome ransom for the Corsair chief,
but Seid sees through her ploy. As she defies him, his
suspicions are confirmed.
Scene 2: A prison
Incarcerated, Corrado’s concerns are for Medora and
how she will react upon learning of his fate. Gulnara
creeps in having bribed a guard. She vows to help him
and hands him a knife with which to kill Seid. Citing his
sense of honour, Corrado rejects her offer, and he further
distresses her by telling of his love for Medora. Gulnara,
asking if he expects a feeble woman to do the deed
for him, rushes away. A storm erupts overhead which
Corrado wishes would cut short his doomed existence. As
the storm subsides, Gulnara returns. She has murdered
Seid herself. Corrado responds in shock; Gulnara insists
that while all may condemn her, he must not, as she has
committed murder for love of him. Eventually Corrado is
roused to protect her and they make their escape. Medora, having heard of the Corsair’s defeat, is convinced
that she will never see Corrado again. She has taken
poison and is near death. Suddenly a ship is sighted,
Corrado and Gulnara arrive, and the lovers are reunited.
On Medora’s enquiry Corrado introduces Gulnara and
explains how she freed him. Gulnara reveals her true
feelings but assures Medora of her lover’s constancy.
They protest their ill-fated destinies as Medora’s strength
fails. When she dies, Corrado, in an agony of despair,
leaps to his death from a cliff.
Il corsaro rehersals
Scene 3: The Corsairs’ island
9
Cast
Corrado
Gulnara
Pasha Seid
Medora
Giovanni
Pirate/Aga Selimo
Pirate/Eunuch
Lord Byron
Caroline Lamb
Pirates/Musselmen
Odalisques/Handmaidens
10
Thomas Atkins (Fri, Sun)
Oliver Sewell (Sat, Tue)
Isabella Moore (Fri, Sun)
Christina Orgias (Sat, Tue)
Christian Thurston (Fri, Sun)
Frederick Jones (Sat, Tue)
Elisabeth Harris (Fri, Sun)
Daniela-Rosa Cepeda (Sat, Tue)
James Henare
William McElwee
Declan Cudd
Jack Blomfield
Imogen Thirlwall
Carl Anderson
Rory Sweeney
Luka Venter
Daniel Sun
Dion Church
Jason Cooper
Sam Balson
Alan Keegan
Peter Barnett
Ian Raistrick
Nino Raphael
Brooks Kershaw
Roger Joyce
Tess Robinson
Esther Leefe
Hannah Jones
Rebecca Howan
Katherine McIndoe
Olivia Marshall
Alicia Cadwgan
Emma Carpenter
Georgia Fergusson
Elyse Hemara
Luana Howard
Rebecca Howie
Bethany Miller
Olivia Sheat
Jennifer Dickinson
Creative Team
Conductor
Director
Assistant Director
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Kenneth Young
Sara Brodie
Frances Moore
Tony De Goldi
Daphne Eriksen
Hannah Rogers
Production /
Administration Team
Production Manager
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Assistant Conductor
Repetiteur
Surtitle Script
Surtitle Operators
Head of Voice
Senior Lecturer
Lecturer
Artist Teacher
NZSM Orchestra Coordinator
Corporate Services Manager
Events & Marketing Coordinator
Publicist
Production Coordinator
Classical Performance
Programme Administrator
Design
Neil Anderson
Lucie Camp
Eden Williams
Michael Joel
Mark Dorrell
Richard Greager
Jim Pearce, Christine Pearce
Margaret Medlyn
Jenny Wollerman
Richard Greager
Lisa Harper-Brown
Martin Riseley
Mark McGann
Stephen Gibbs
Julia Hughes
Christine Pearce
Belinda Behle
Danica Prowse
11
BIOGRAPHIES
Creative Team
Kenneth Young
Conductor
Kenneth Young is one of
New Zealand’s leading
conductors. He has
established himself as a
passionate and skilled interpreter of the
Romantic and 20th Century repertoire,
and twenty five years of practical
orchestral playing has enabled him to
establish a specialised rapport with his
colleagues. A composer himself, he has
a particular interest in post-Romantic
repertoire, and has received recognition
for his recordings of New Zealand and
Australian orchestral music.
Kenneth has worked regularly with all
the regional orchestras throughout New
Zealand, and his engagements with the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and
the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra
have included many highly acclaimed CD
recordings. He also regularly conducts
seasons with the Royal New Zealand
Ballet, Australian Ballet and Western
Australian Ballet. Outside New Zealand,
Kenneth has worked with the Melbourne,
Queensland, West Australian, Adelaide
and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras,
Orchestra Victoria, the City of Osaka
Sinfonia, and the BBC Scottish Symphony
Orchestra.
In addition to his work as a performer
and a conductor, Kenneth has become
one of New Zealand’s leading composers.
Numerous commissions from Chamber
Music New Zealand, the New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra, Australian
orchestras, the Brass Band Association of
New Zealand, the International Festival
of the Arts, Auckland Philharmonia
Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington and
Radio New Zealand, have been performed
nationwide and also in the United States,
Europe and Australia. Recent premieres
include Portrait for Solo Violin and
Orchestra with the NZSO and Lux Aeterna
with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra,
both to wide critical acclaim.
Since 1988 he has been a member of the
music faculty of the New Zealand School
of Music’s Kelburn Campus (originally
Victoria University’s School of Music)
where he lectures in conducting and
orchestration. In 2004 Kenneth was
awarded the Lilburn Trust Citation in
Recognition of Outstanding Services to
New Zealand Music.
12
Sara Brodie
Director
Sara is a director and
choreographer whose
work spans a range of
genres. Recent works
include creating and directing Tracing
Hamlet for the Festival of Colour in
Wanaka. Earlier this year she directed a
new work to introduce young people to
the symphony, Skydancer for Capital E and
the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
She also directed Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte
for Days Bay Opera and in 2012 directed
the world premiere of Jenny McLeod’s
Hohepa for New Zealand Opera and the
New Zealand International Arts Festival.
Sara’s love for interdisciplinary theatre
led towards the creation of The Kreutzer
(2007 STAB commission, 2009 Auckland
and Christchurch Arts Festivals) and the
formation of the multi-genre production
company Stage Left.
Her previous opera productions include
Maria Stuarda, Alcina, The Journey to
Rheims and The Marriage of Figaro, for
Days Bay Opera; Candide featuring the
Orpheus Choir; the new work Kia Ora
Khalid for Capital E – recently remounted
for the Taranaki Festival and Victoria Arts
Centre in Melbourne; the New Zealand
premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and Semele for the New Zealand School
of Music; The Opera Ball for New Zealand
Opera and the Auckland Arts Festival; and
Fatal Desire (new opera) for the Asia Pacific
Arts Festival. Choreography has included
Frida & Diego, at Arcola Theatre, London;
Messalina, Festival di Batignano, Musica
nel Chiostro, Italy; The Louis Vuitton 150th
Anniversary Show in Tokyo and various
New Zealand Opera productions.
In 2009 she was the recipient of the
Creative New Zealand International Artist
Grant travelling to Singapore and London
to spend time with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
The following year she was one of ten
New Zealand artists participating in
ConversAsians in Singapore.
Theatricalising music, Sara made Seven
Last Words with video designer Andrew
Brettell for the Chamber Music NZ tour
and worked with jazz musician Karen
Hunter to create Scrapyard Cabaret for the
Erupt – Taupo Arts Festival.
After Il corsaro she will direct Don Giovanni
for New Zealand Opera.
Frances Moore
Assistant Director
Directing opera is a new
and exciting direction
for Frances Moore. She
trained as a classical
singer under Emily Mair and Margaret
Medlyn and graduated from the New
Zealand School of Music with a first class
honours degree. She then changed her
focus and went on to complete a Master
of Music with Distinction in Musicology at
the New Zealand School of Music under
the guidance of Dr Inge van Rij.
In 2012, while searching for a way in which
to weave together the different threads
of her passion for music, Frances received
a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to
undertake research at New York University
with Dr Suzanne Cusick and Dr Michael
Beckerman. In New York Frances also
had her first experience of working as
an assistant director to Linda Brovsky
for the Manhattan School of Music’s
Summer Voice Programme. Having
returned home, Frances is now working
towards her Master of Theatre Arts at Toi
Whakaari in order to pursue her dream
of working as an opera director. Using
her solid grounding in both research
and performance, Frances also writes
programme notes for the New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra.
Tony De Goldi
Set Designer
Tony is a Senior Design
Lecturer at Wellington
Institute of Technology
and has designed for
theatre since 1994. This is the third opera
he has worked on with Sara Brodie, the
last being Jenny McLeod’s Hohepa for
New Zealand Opera and the New Zealand
International Arts Festival for which he
designed both set and costume.
Other theatre designs include Sunset Road
by Miria George for Tawata Productions,
Te Kaupoi by Whiti Hereaka and The
Blackening by Paul Rothwell. Tony is of
Northern Italian descent and his grandparents emigrated from the Valtellina
valley in the early twentieth century,
eventually settling on the West Coast of
the South Island around 1920.
BIOGRAPHIES
Cast
Daphne Eriksen
Costume Designer
After years of design for
stage and screen, Daphne
took time out with her
young family. She then
graduated in Design at Toi Whakaari:
New Zealand Drama School in 2012 and
has now happily returned to professional
design work. Her most recent project,
Our Country’s Good, was highly regarded
in reviews for its meticulous attention to
detail and quality. Over the years she has
also worked in various film and television
projects including River Queen and the
award winning feature film Shopping.
Hannah Rogers
Lighting Designer
Hannah Rogers was born
and trained in the UK
where she worked with
theatre companies such
as Uninvited Guests and Kneehigh. She
has lived in New Zealand for the past five
years and has enjoyed working on a broad
range of projects from classical concerts
to children’s theatre. She is currently a
project manager at Grouse Lighting as
well as Head of Lighting for WOMAD
Festival and Technical Manager for TEMPO
Dance Festival
Thomas Atkins
tenor
Corrado
Freemasons Dame
Malvina Major Emerging
Artist Thomas Atkins
completed a Bachelor of Music in Classical
Performance Voice at Te Kōkī New Zealand
School of Music in 2012 studying under
Jenny Wollerman. He has attended the
New Zealand Opera School in Wanganui
for the past two years.
He is the recipient of the Guildhall School
of Music and Drama award, the Sheila
Prior Prize, the Phoebe Patrick Award
and the Vianden International Summer
School Award, all from the 2012 IFAC
Australian Singing Competition. He also
received 1st place in the Recital Class, the
Harding Morris Challenge Cup and the
Robin Dumbell Memorial Cup at the 2012
Wellington Aria Competition. Thomas
was awarded a full scholarship at NZSM
for 2009, the Moyra Todd Memorial
Scholarship in 2012 and the Kapiti Chorale
Award in Vocal Performance in 2011.
Thomas’ operatic roles include Ferrando,
Così Fan Tutte for Days Bay Opera and
Auckland Opera Studio; Oronte, Alcina
also for Days Bay Opera; Borsa (cover),
Rigoletto for New Zealand Opera and
Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
for the New Zealand School of Music.
Solo engagements include Michael
Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Mozart’s
Requiem, Dubois’ Seven Last Words of
Christ, Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor,
Handel’s Messiah, and a performance in
Nelson’s Opera in the Park concert.
In September 2013 Thomas commences
study at The Guildhall School of Music and
Drama in London.
Oliver Sewell
tenor
Corrado
Freemasons Dame
Malvina Major Emerging
Artist Oliver Sewell
completed a Bachelor of Music in Classical
Performance Voice at the University
of Canterbury in 2011 and is currently
completing a Postgraduate Diploma in
Vocal Performance at Te Kōkī New Zealand
School of Music studying under Margaret
Medlyn. Oliver is the recipient of a Dame
Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence
Award, an NZSM Postgraduate study
scholarship and an Associated Board
of the Royal School of Music Exhibition
Award. He has completed the ABRSM
Grade 8 in singing and cello, and ATCL in
cello, gaining distinction.
Oliver’s operatic roles include Damon,
Acis & Galatea for New Zealand Opera
and Gontran, Une education manqué by
Chabrier for the University of Canterbury
Platform Arts Festival. Solo engagements
include Monteverdi’s Vespers with the
Jubilate Singers, Handel’s Messiah with
Nelson Civic Choir and Napier Civic
Choir, Haydn’s Creation with Napier
Civic Choir, J.S. Bach’s St John Passion
with the Southern Sinfonia, concerts
with the Nelson Symphony Orchestra
and performances in the Christchurch
Cathedral Concert Series. Oliver has
also performed with the Christchurch
Symphony Orchestra, the Dame Malvina
Major Foundation garden parties, the New
Zealand Youth Choir, the New Zealand
Secondary Students’ Choir, in recital with
Anna Argyle and with Baroque Voices as
part of ‘The Full Monte’ project.
In September he is performing Mozart’s
Great Mass in C Minor with the Orpheus
Choir of Wellington.
13
BIOGRAPHIES
Isabella Moore
soprano
Gulnara
Isabella Moore is a New
Zealand-born soprano of
Samoan and European
heritage. She has completed a Bachelor
of Music degree majoring in Classical
Performance Voice and is now studying
towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Voice
Performance at Te Kōkī New Zealand
School of Music studying with Margaret
Medlyn.
Isabella was a semi-finalist for the 2012
Lexus Song Quest and received the Radio
New Zealand Listeners’ Choice award.
In August, she won the Dame Malvina
Major Wellington Aria Competition and
was a finalist in the New Zealand Aria
competition, receiving the New Zealand
Opera School award. Isabella was the 2012
Iosefa Enari Memorial Award recipient for
the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika
awards.
This year, Isabella won the 2013 Napier
Computer Systems Aria and is the recipient
of the Mona Ross Prize for Excellence in
Singing as well as an NZSM Postgraduate
Scholarship. In February, Isabella received
an invitation to study Advanced Vocal
performance at the Wales International
Academy of Voice under the tutelage of
world-renowned tenor, Dennis O’Neill and
soprano, Nuccia Focile. She has accepted
the invitation and will travel to Wales in
September to begin her Master’s Degree.
Passionate about singing and committed
to developing her talents and a career
as a soprano, Isabella regularly performs
at concerts, functions and events across
New Zealand. She performed in the
New Zealand School of Music’s Wagner
– Verdi Concert in May and will perform
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the
Wellington Youth Orchestra in July.
Christina Orgias
soprano
Gulnara
Christina completed
her Bachelor of Music in
Classical Performance
Voice at Te Kōkī New Zealand School
of Music 2012 and is currently studying
towards her Postgraduate Diploma of
Music with Margaret Medlyn and Richard
Greager. She has performed numerous
times as a soloist, including singing in a
prestigious fundraising dinner for the New
Zealand School of Music at Te Papa earlier
14
this year where she performed alongside
acclaimed international tenor Simon
O’Neill. Also this year she sang the role of
Micaëla in an abridged concert version of
Bizet’s Carmen for the New Zealand Choral
Federation’s workshop held in May and
performed with the New Zealand School of
Music’s Orchestra at the Wellington Town
Hall in the Wagner – Verdi concert.
Christina was one of 20 participants at
the 2013 New Zealand Opera School and
has been awarded an NZSM Directors’
Postgraduate Scholarship for 2013. She
is currently a member of the Chapman
Tripp New Zealand Opera Chorus and her
ambition is to study for a Master’s Degree
overseas.
Christian Thurston
baritone
Pasha Seid
Born in Rotorua, Christian
Thurston is in his third
year at Te Kōkī New
Zealand School of Music studying for a
Bachelor of Music, majoring in Classical
Performance Voice with Richard Greager.
He also has achieved Honours in the field
of speech and drama gaining the Trinity
Guildhall ATCL with Distinction in Speech
and Drama in 2009 along with a Certificate
of Special Merit from Trinity Guildhall. In
2009 Christian won the Performing Arts
Competitions Association of New Zealand
Mazda Foundation New Zealand Young
Performer of the Year in Speech and
Drama.
Christian has always had a love for
performing and made his debut on the
stage at age four. He has had lead roles
in numerous plays and musical theatre
including Javert in Les Miserables, Mickey
in Blood Brothers and Henry Jekyll in Jekyll
and Hyde – The Musical. Christian has had
many soloist opportunities and classical
roles and was a soloist in the 2013 New
Zealand School of Music Wagner – Verdi
Concert. Later this year he will debut in the
Chapman Tripp New Zealand Opera Chorus
in New Zealand Opera’s production of Der
fliegende Holländer by Wagner.
Frederick Jones
baritone
Pasha Seid
Frederick began his vocal
studies at Te Kōkī New
Zealand School of Music
in 2010, completing a
Bachelor of Music, majoring in Classical
Performance Voice studying under Richard
Greager. He is now finishing a Postgraduate
Diploma in Classical Performance Voice
under Richard. Frederick’s most recent
engagements have been in The Garden
Opera Company’s productions of The Zoo
and Trial by Jury. In 2011 he performed
the role of Starveling in the New Zealand
School of Music’s production of Benjamin
Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Frederick is a member of the Chapmann
Tripp Opera Chorus and performed in
New Zealand Opera’s performances
of Verdi’s Rigoletto and Smetana’s The
Bartered Bride in its 2012 season. This year
he has performed in New Zealand Opera’s
production of Madame Butterfly; and the
New Zealand Choral Federation’s concert
performance of Carmen. Later this year
he will appear in New Zealand Opera’s
production of Der fliegende Holländer by
Wagner.
Daniela-Rosa Cepeda
soprano
Medora
Daniela is currently in
her third year at Te Kōkī
New Zealand School of
Music studying under Jenny Wollerman.
Daniela won the Dame Malvina Major
Wellington Aria Competition in 2011 and
also performed in the New Zealand School
of Music’s 2011 production of Benjamin
Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Daniela’s passion for opera developed in
high school under the tutelage of Orlean
Wakeman and later Judith Howlett. She
enjoys working in all vocal genres and
the contemporary scene has remained
a passion along with choral and jazz
music. She has achieved success in many
areas including a scholarship to study
with the National Youth Choir of Great
Britain, performing the role of Ellen in the
Napier Operatic Society’s production of
Miss Saigon. Daniela is also working on
a contemporary music project with the
current New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s
Composer in Residence, Sam Logan.
BIOGRAPHIES
Elisabeth Harris
soprano
Medora
Currently studying
towards her Master of
Musical Arts in Classical
Performance Voice under Margaret Medlyn
at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music,
Elisabeth is also an accomplished actor
and composer gaining 1st place in the New
Zealand Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Music
Composition Competition in 2004, and
second equal in 2005. Additionally, she has
worked as conductor and musical director
of the Christchurch Homeschoolers’ Choir
and as a private singing teacher.
Whilst gaining her First Class Honours
in Music at the University of Auckland, a
Bachelor of Arts in History and English at
the University of Canterbury and an ATCL
in Speech and Drama from Trinity College
London, she managed to squeeze in
performances of Orlofsky, Die Fledermaus;
alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Ophelia,
Hamlet; Emilia, Otello; Rusalka in an
adapted version of Rusalka, and Witch 1,
Dido and Aeneas. Last year, she had the
opportunity to work with Dennis O’Neill
in a Lexus Masterclass and she has also
performed in concerts for Opera Factory,
the Dame Malvina Major Foundation
and worked with the San Francisco
Opera Centre Directors during the Pacific
Opera Programme in Christchurch. An
experienced chorus member with New
Zealand Opera, Canterbury and Southern
Opera, Elisabeth’s love of the operatic art
form leads her to include in her future plans
further study overseas, ultimately aiming to
be singing and performing regularly in an
international capacity. A previous winner
of the Nelson Vocal Recital Competition,
this year Elisabeth is a recipient of a Jubilee
Memorial Scholarship.
James Henare
bass
Giovanni
James Henare is in his third
year of study for a Bachelor
of Music in Classical
Performance, Voice at Te Kōkī New Zealand
School of Music studying under Jenny
Wollerman. He has been singing classically
for only the last three years, taking it up in
his last year of school alongside guitar and
barbershop.
Performance experience since then
has included singing the role of King
Stanislaus in Bernstein’s Candide with the
Orpheus Choir and also appearing as a
soloist for the Choir’s Orpheus in America
concert, and Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen
for the New Zealand Choral Federation’s
concert performance of the opera. James
was also asked to lead Gaudeamus at the
Victoria University graduation ceremonies
in May 2013. Later this year he will join
the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus in
New Zealand Opera’s production of Der
fliegende Holländer by Wagner. Future
plans are to study voice at Honours level
either at the New Zealand School of Music
or in Europe with the aim of pursuing a
professional singing career based in Europe
or the United Kingdom.
Declan Cudd
tenor
Pirate / Slave
Declan Cudd is in his
second year of study
for a Bachelor of Music
majoring in Classical Performance Voice
at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music
studying under Richard Greager. He grew
up in Rotorua attending John Paul College
and took part in many school and local
productions. Declan was heavily involved
in the Rotorua arts community both on
and off the stage using his skills in lighting
and sound production. He has received
many academic and community awards
including a Rotorua District Community
Award for Outstanding Service to the
District and its Community, a Rotorua
Energy Charitable Trust Scholarship and an
NZSM Directors’ Scholarship.
Declan is singing in the Orpheus Choir of
Wellington as a Choral Scholar for 2013 and
is also a member of the Chapman Tripp
New Zealand Opera Chorus. Later this year
he will appear in the Opera Company’s
production of Der fliegende Holländer by
Wagner. Declan was a member of the
New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir
where he held the position of Choir
co-leader. During his time the choir toured
South Africa. Declan aspires to become a
professional opera singer and his dream
role would be Fenton from Falstaff by Verdi.
In his spare time he loves escaping into the
New Zealand countryside to go hunting
and fishing.
William McElwee
tenor
Pirate / Aga Selimo
William McElwee is in his
third year of a Bachelor
of Music at Te Kōkī New
Zealand School of Music majoring in
Classical Performance Voice, studying
under Richard Greager. He is currently
a member of the Chapman Tripp New
Zealand Opera Chorus and was an
inaugural choral scholar with the Orpheus
Choir of Wellington in 2012. William
appeared as Snout/Wall in the NZSM’s
successful 2011 production of Benjamin
Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
William also plays the Renaissance lute,
both in Straynge Discorde, New Zealand’s
lute quartet, and the early music ensemble
Tenorista. He is a Victoria University of
Wellington graduate, having completed
a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in
Mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons)
degree in Latin and English Language, with
a particular research interest in the Old
Icelandic outlaw sagas. One of William’s
ambitions is to use his music to help raise
awareness of mental health issues. His
dream future operatic role would be Canio
in Pagliacci.
Jack Blomfield
Lord Byron
Originally from the British Virgin Islands,
Jack Blomfield has lived in New Zealand
off and on for around 18 years. From a
very early age he has wanted to pursue
a career in acting. Jack currently attends
Victoria University of Wellington and is
halfway through a Bachelor of Arts degree,
majoring in Theatre.
Imogen Thirlwall
Caroline Lamb
Imogen Thirlwall recently completed a
Master of Music in Classical Performance
Voice at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of
Music, having won a full scholarship based
on academic excellence. Operatic roles
include Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte (Days
Bay Opera, 2013), Mercedes in Carmen (NZ
Choral Federation workshop, 2013), and
Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (NZSM, 2011). She performed with
the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus for New
Zealand Opera’s production of The Bartered
Bride (2012), Madame Butterfly (2013) and
will perform in the September production
of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. Imogen
attended the NZ Opera School for three
years and is a recipient of a 2012 Dame
Malvina Major High Achievers Award. A jazz
trumpeter by night, Imogen was a member
of the NZSM Big Band for five years and
plays in big bands around Wellington.
15
Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music Orchestra
Violin 1
Annabel Drummond *
Salina Fisher
Matthew Cook
Alexa Thomson
Katie-Lee Taylor
Manshan Yang
Martin Riseley ^
Christine Watson ^
Hedda Oosterhoff ^
Mary Taylor ^
Violin 2
Julian Baker
Ashley Mah
Laura Barton
Rebecca Hulse
Alina Junc
Jun He
Rupa Maitra ^
Michael Joel ^
Viola
Alice McIvor
Vincent Hardaker
Aidan Verity
Craig Drummond-Nairn
Zavana Davies
Helen Bevin ^
Cello
Anna-Marie Alloway
Rachel Miles
Heather Lewis
Tierney Baron
Caitlin Morris
Xialing Zheng
Jordan Renaud
Double Bass
Louis van der Mespel
Katrina Jacobs
Anna Miller ^
Flute
Lena Taylor
Tjasa Dykes ^
Oboe
Ashleigh Mowbray
Jacqueline Kotula ^
Clarinet
Hannah Sellars
Patrick Hayes
Bassoon
Peter Lamb
Hayley Roud ^
Horn
Alex Morton ^
Henry Swanson ^
Caryl Stannard ^
Donna Heathcote ^
Trumpet
Sarah Henderson
Selena Rasmussen
Trombone
Julian Kirgan
Hamish Jellyman
Bass Trombone
Patrick Di Somma
Tuba
Keenan Buchanan
Timpani
Steve Bremner ^
Percussion
Dale Hounsome-Vail
Harp
Jennifer Newth
* Concertmaster
^ NZSM Orchestra
guest player
Te Kōkī
the School of Music for New Zealand
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16
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