LIVE at the Museum - A Night of Opera - What's on

MON 2 AUG, 7.30-9.45PM
TE AO MĀRAMA SOUTH ATRIUM
GENERAL ADMISSION $75, DOOR SALES GENERAL ADMISSION $85,
MEMBER $67.50, MEMBER DOOR SALES $76.50

Join us to for an intimate experience with NZ Opera's standout artists in Auckland Museum's stunning Te Ao Mārama South Atrium.

Back for a third year, this will be an unforgettable performance, matching New Zealand's opera talent with the magnificence of the South Atrium, for one night only.

A Night of Opera will feature performances from "one of the voices of the decade" Benson Wilson (baritone), Katherine Winitana (soprano - Ngā Ariki Kaipūtahi, Ngāti Kahungunu), and Emmanuel Fonoti Fuimaono (tenor), hosted and accompanied by pianist Ben Kubiak on the Fazioli piano.

This explorative event centres around these talented artists as they perform some of the finest Italian, French, and American repertoire, from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers’ Duet to Verdi’s La donna è mobile and highlights from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. This event will also celebrate and share with the audience the artists' backgrounds and diverse cultures, as they perform Māori waiata and Pasifika song and dance. A night to remember!

Tickets are limited for this unique event so we recommend you purchase early.

Book now

7.30PM – Doors open
8PM – Event begins
9.45PM – Event ends

Food and beverages will be available for purchase on the night from Tuitui Museum Bistro & Café. This event is suitable for adults aged 18 and over.

Please note entry is via the Southern entrance of the Museum located closest to Newmarket. The Museum Carpark will be available for secure, undercover paid parking during the event; the first 30 minutes are free. Enter from Maunsell Road, located on the Newmarket side of the Domain.

Please note this event is a seated event. Tickets are general admission and not pre-allocated.

About the performers

Baritone

Benson Wilson

New Zealand-born Sāmoan baritone Benson Wilson is the winner of the prestigious 64th Kathleen Ferrier Award. That same year he was awarded the Most Outstanding Overseas Performer of the Royal Overseas League Competition, the Worshipful Company of Musicians Award, and was the 2018 winner of the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation Award and the People’s Choice Award.

From 20/21 Benson joined English National Opera as a Harewood Artist, opening the season as Schaunard La bohème. His concert performances this season have included a recital tour of New Zealand at venues including Auckland Chamber Concert Hall, Hawkes Bay Opera House and Auckland Opera Studio; Handel Messiah with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields; and a gala of arias and ensembles with the Orchestra of Opera North. Future engagements include Dvorak Te Deum and Finzi In Terra Pax with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. He will make his house debut in the title role of Orpheus (Orpheus and Eurydice) for New Zealand Opera, as well as further roles for Welsh National Opera and ENO.

Tenor

Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono

Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono studied under Jose Aparicio for four years before heading off to university. Emmanuel’s opera journey began as a chorus member and backstage hand for Festival Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro in 2013. He has since then played the role of Goro – a marriage broker in Festival Opera’s Madame Butterfly; as well as the role of Gastone from La Traviata in 2019. Emmanuel was a finalist at the Lockwood New Zealand Aria Competition in 2019 and was selected to participate in the NZ Opera School in Whanganui in 2019 and 2020. He will be attending the school for a third time for 2021.

Soprano

Katherine Winitana

Katherine Winitana has experience in a wide variety of music genres as a performer and composer. In 2016, she was the inaugural recipient of the Vodafone and Recorded Music New Zealand Scholarship Award for her Bachelor of Commercial Music at Massey University - College of Creative Arts, and performed a song she composed to commemorate the ANZAC Centenary at the 2015 Waiata Māori Music Awards. She has been a member of the chorus in the past five productions by Festival Opera (La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, La Traviata, and Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci). She was also Assistant to Stage Director John Wilkie for La Traviata, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci. 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.

Accompanist

Ben Kubiak

Ben Kubiak is a multi-faceted musician whose work spans multiple instruments and genres. He is currently completing a PhD in musicology at the University of Auckland. He holds a Bachelor of Music (Hons) majoring in classical voice from the University of Auckland, graduating with First-Class Honours and winning the Drake medal for his dissertation. He is frequently engaged as an accompanist by the Royal New Zealand Navy Band, and in 2017, for his work with brass musicians, was awarded the Accompanist of the Year award by the Brass Band Association of New Zealand. Ben has also music-directed numerous music theatre productions including The Shakespeare Revue and Tomfoolery with his own production company, and this year co-produced with Auckland Music Theatre an original musical, Proportional Misrepresentation, for which he composed the music and lyrics.

He is often engaged as a répétiteur and pit pianist by theatre groups including Auckland Music Theatre, G&T Productions, Manukau Performing Arts, and Harlequin Music Theatre.

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