Each year five promising young opera singers are chosen from across the country for the immersive Master of Music programme in Advanced Opera Studies at the University of Waikato, two of which are funded by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation. Te Pae Kōkako provides training from national and international tutors, and the opera students will travel to residencies in New Zealand and abroad. It is the first programme of its kind in New Zealand to combine academic rigour with immersive industry training. Find out more about Te Pae Kōkako
Katherine has experience in a wide variety of music genre as a performer and composer. She was a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Studio Artist with NZ Opera for 2021 and 2022. She has been a member of the chorus in the past five productions by Festival Opera.
Katherine is a Student Mentor for Project Prima Volta in Hawkes Bay, which draws teenagers from diverse backgrounds together to help them find common ground through music and performance.
Emmanuel started singing at home in family prayer and church, learning hymns in the choir. He was a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Studio Artist with NZ Opera for 2021 and was selected to participate in the NZ Opera School in Whanganui in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, where he was awarded the DMMF Scholarship Award and the Susie and Guy Haddleton Emerging Artist Scholarship. He won the DMMF Waikato Aria in 2021 and in 2022 won the Dame Malvina Major Foundation first prize in the Lockwood New Zealand Aria Competition. Emmanuel has been an active member of Hawke’s Bay Youth Initiative Project Prima Volta.
“We already know that our young New Zealand singers have so much talent and potential, let’s give them the head start they need here at home to succeed in their international careers.”
The immersive Master of Music programme in Advanced Opera Studies at the University of Waikato is headed by New Zealand soprano, Madeleine Pierard, the inaugural Dame Malvina Major Chair in Opera at the University of Waikato. Ms Pierard is an internationally-recognised opera singer who has recently returned from London to take up this position alongside her international career. Her role is funded by Hamilton philanthropists Sir William and Judi, Lady Gallagher to acknowledge Dame Malvina’s legacy.
