This Friday evening six of New Zealand’s most successful International opera stars will take to the stage with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for a night of operatic passion, betrayal and a heady dose of high fashion glamour.
This APO performance Tales of Passion and Betrayal on Friday 9 October may in fact be the first major arts event to take place in Auckland since the second lockdown commenced in early August.
And what an event it will be.
Anna Leese (Soprano), Natasha Wilson (Soprano), Kristin Darragh (Mezzo-soprano), Simon O’Neill (Tenor), Amitai Pati (Tenor) and Oliver Sewell (Tenor) will all be on stage performing scenes from some of the most beloved operas ever written.
To have all these gifted stars together on stage is certainly a rare treat. If it wasn’t for COVID travel restrictions keeping these gifted performers at home in New Zealand they would all be away fulfilling their previously scheduled international engagements.
Tenor Simon O’Neill, perhaps New Zealand’s most well-known opera star of the moment, has been the creative driver behind this event and the stellar cast he has personally assembled shines a direct light on the strong singing tradition that exists here in Aotearoa.
It will also be exciting to see the APO reunited with acclaimed New Zealand born conductor Holly Mathieson who has returned home to New Zealand to conduct this 9 October performance along with a variety of other engagements around the country.
To help mark this return to live performance and in a show of deliberate celebration and support for our city’s wider creative sector, each of the soloists will be dressed by leading New Zealand fashion designer, Liz Mitchell ONZM, offering audiences some intriguing sartorial expression to complement the operatic drama.
When the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra perform our CBD comes to life and Friday 9 October with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Simon O’Neill, and a cast of our country’s greatest opera talent promises to be a night of glamour and breath-taking music.
