Night of Nights - The Dame Malvina Major Waikato Aria Competition
Date | Saturday 1 August 2020 |
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Time | 7pm - 9pm |
Where | Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Knighton Road, Hillcrest, Hamilton |
Presenter | Conservatorium of Music |
Contact | Conservatorium of Music |
Contact email | music@waikato.ac.nz |
Website | www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/about/school-of-arts/music |
Admission Cost | Admission cost - Tickets $15 at door, Students with ID free |
Night of Nights - The Dame Malvina Major Waikato Aria Competition
The annual University Aria Competition promises to be another spectacle of superb music and singing as students vie for the top spot. Prizes sponsored by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation with the support of the Greenlea Foundation Trust.
Our distinguished adjudicator for the evening's competition will be Simon O"Neill.
A native of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill is one of the finest helden-tenors on the international stage. He has frequently performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Berlin, Vienna and Bayerische Staatsopern, Teatro alla Scala and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh and BBC Proms Festivals, appearing with a number of illustrious conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Sir Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Colin Davis, Edo de Waart, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Simone Young, Andris Nelsons, Pietari Inkinen, Esa Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel.
He was described in the international press as "an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice", "THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation" and "a turbo-charged tenor".
Notable engagements have included opening La Scala's season as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Barenboim and with the Wiener Staatsoper with Welser-Möst. He returned as Siegmund in the celebrated Keith Warner Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Ring Cycle where he also performed; Lohengrin, Fidelio, Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role of Parsifal. He made his debut with the Hallé Orchestra in the title role of Wagner’s Siegfried in concert with Sir Mark Elder at the Edinburgh Festival and with Jaap van Zweden with the Hong Kong Philharmonic - both these performances have been released on CD. He made his debut as Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin Staatsoper with Simone Young and as the Tambourmajor in Wozzeck with Levine at the Metropolitan Opera.
Simon became an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, he is an alumnus and holds a Doctor of Music (Honoris Causa) from Victoria University of Wellington and is an alumnus of the University of Otago, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard Opera Center. He is a Fulbright Scholar, was awarded the 2005 Arts Laureate of New Zealand and was a grand finalist in the 2002 Metropolitan Opera National Auditions returning as guest artist in 2007. He also appears on the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
Tickets can be purchased from the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts - $15 on the night. Free for Students with ID.