TANZOS 2025 eNews, Issue #4: Including upcoming performances and successes

A Word from our Chair in Opera...

Kia ora koutou,

November is officially Covent Garden Month!

We’re thrilled to welcome three current Royal Ballet and Opera coaches from London, plus the incomparable Joyce DiDonato, who will give one of her legendary masterclasses to four of our artists in Wellington. Two days later, we celebrate Italian opera repertoire with a special Wellington concert. And from Sydney, celebrated tenor Glenn Winslade joins us, he and Joyce are both Covent Garden regulars, making this a month truly worth celebrating.

From 10–21 November, Nick Fletcher, Deputy Head of Music at The Royal Opera, is with us in Hamilton for assessed recitals and coaching. From 22 November, we’re joined by Elaine Kidd, Head of the Jette Parker Artists Programme, and Caroline Dowdle, senior JPAP coach and Head of Opera at the Verbier Festival’s Atelier Lyrique—both featured in our Wellington events.

While in London recently, I caught up with Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, now settling beautifully into the Jette Parker Artists Programme. The feedback has been glowing. His first appearance was at a Royal Opera House donor event, performing Puccini with David Gowland (Head of Music, JPAP and former TANZOS tutor) and outstanding second-year soprano Isabella Diaz.

And in wonderful news closer to home, TANZOS artists swept the NZ Aria Competition. Seven of the ten finalists were past, current, or future TANZOS artists.:

• Sarah Mileham (2024–25) – 1st Prize

• Katherine Winitana (2023–24) – Runner-up

• Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono (2024–25) – 3rd Prize

  
  

We hope to see you in Wellington later this month or in Hamilton this week. Please encourage those who may be interested to stay connected and join our mailing list via our website for the latest news and events.

We are so grateful for your continued support for these phenomenal young artists.

Noho ora mai,

Madeleine Pierard

Dame Malvina Major Chair in Opera

University of Waikato

What we are up to...

As usual, it has been a busy time here at Te Pae Kōkako - TANZOS, with our artists busy preparing for their second recitals of the year as well as external engagements and competitions around the motu. Alongside their lessons with Nikki Li Hartliep, we were blessed to have the wonderful Donna Balson with us in September as an international guest coach and the students were also enjoying regular coaching with acclaimed pianist, David Harper.

October saw us joined by Heldentenor and vocal technician, Glenn Winslade, and we are now well and truly into ‘Covent Garden Month’ here at TANZOS, with a string of amazing guests joining us over the next few weeks!

Introducing our 2026-27 TANZOS Cohort

In September, we held auditions for our 2026/27 TANZOS Artists. Following two days of auditions, a number of shortlisted candidates were selected to join the cohort for a couple of days, getting a taste of what the programme involves by attending group classes with our current artists and getting a chance to work solo with Nikki Li and Donna Balson. From this, five candidates were offered places in the programme and we are pleased to announce our TANZOS Artists for 2026/27: 

• Emma Jones (soprano)

• Caitlin Roberts (soprano)

• Rose Aldridge (mezzo-soprano)

• Cadence Chung (mezzo-soprano)

• Szilvia Hernyak (mezzo-soprano) 

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We are so excited to have them join our current TANZOS Artists on the course in early 2026. You can read more about each of them here.

Alumni News...

Taylor Wallbank (TANZOS Artist, 2023/24)

So far, it’s been pretty eye-opening seeing the level of detailed work that goes on here. The amount of preparation that goes into roles and auditions, and the depth of discussion around the “business of singing”, what people are looking for, how we can present ourselves, and the individual career paths each of us are building, has all been really insightful. I’m currently preparing scenes from Mozart’s Idomeneo to perform in a showcase on the 30th of October in front of the public, house partners, and agents. The following morning, I’ll present a new audition package that Mascarade has helped tailor specifically to me, for the same houses and agents. After that, they’ll begin their casting decisions for the following season, so things are already moving quite quickly. After all of that, we go straight into Christmas concerts, more showcases, and other role preparations like Hoffmann, which I’m also working on at the moment.

TANZOS really gave me the technical grounding and vocal stamina to handle something like this. Here, we’re expected to be ready to start working professionally by next year, and Mascarade is gradually helping us become more independent so we can manage ourselves confidently no matter what situations we face.

One thing I really appreciated about TANZOS was the broad range of coaches and vocal consultants we worked with. That exposure helped me define what works for me and build a sense of discernment that’s been incredibly useful at this stage.

It gave me a solid confidence in my technique, enough that I can take advice, adapt it in a way that suits me, or simply set it aside if it doesn’t. Having access to so many different perspectives early on at TANZOS really helped me understand what serves me best as an artist and what doesn’t, and that foundation is proving invaluable now.

Edward Smith (TANZOS Associate Artist 2025)

It’s been an exciting first month at the Curtis Institute of Music here in Philadelphia. We are already well underway prepping for our first opera of the season; Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in which I’ll be playing Caronte. We’ve also got Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream a bit later on where I'll play Theseus. I’m particularly excited about Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn in March conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Music Director, Metropolitan Opera).

Like I was in New Zealand, I’m surrounded by amazing singers who are really lifting me. The instrumentalists, too, are staggeringly talented and it’s such a privilege to listen to them perform and even to hear them practice in adjacent rehearsal rooms. There are many things I miss about New Zealand already. Most of all I miss my family, TANZOS friends, steak and cheese pies and lamingtons.

Upcoming Performances...

TANZOS Artist Recitals

Our first-year cohort will present their first solo recitals as TANZOS artists. All recitals will take place at 7pm in the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Concert Chamber – entry by koha.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra a Masterclass with Joyce DiDonato, co-presented with TANZOS.

Thursday, November 27 at 6pm, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington. Get your tickets here. 

TANZOS presents Una Serenata Italiana: An Evening of Italian Opera Hits.

Saturday, November 29 at 7:30pm, Public Trust Hall, Wellington. Get your tickets here.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in hearing more about Te Pae Kōkako - The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio, please ask them to contact tepaekokako@waikato.ac.nz to be added to our mailing list.