Photo: Jonathan Lemalu
New Zealand/Samoan bass Jonathan Lemalu lives in London these days, but he’s been back in the country for the past few weeks to sing Mahler with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, give solo recitals with pianists Terence Dennis and Bradley Wood, and also to help raise funds so other younger New Zealand musicians can follow in his footsteps.
Three to Seven host Bryan Crump spoke with the singer on the phone from Dunedin, where Lemalu grew up, and asked him whether he had a routine when he comes back home – things he’ll always do.
“Definitely come home and be with Mum and Dad. My singing teacher Honor McKellar, who passed away this year, was 103, and one of the few things that I would always do was catch up with her. So that was a little bit weird not being able to do that, but I celebrated her by dedicating some songs I sang to her.”
“I just know I wouldn’t have had a career without Honor... She opened up my imagination and my creativity in ways that I just haven’t seen anywhere else. I guess now that I teach, I just try to essentially emulate what she does.
“We all have formative moments, and I really do believe that without her, without Raymond White’s choir [at St Paul’s Cathedral, Dunedin], without [pianist] Terence Dennis down here – three really formative people – who knows what might have happened.”
As well as his own projects, Lemalu has taken part in some fund-raising concerts while in New Zealand. They include one for young trumpeter Nina Noble (who will be studying at the Royal College of Music in London, where he teaches) and joining the Virtuoso Strings (he’s their patron) to perform to a “pretty much packed” St Paul’s Cathedral in Wellington.
“That’s a very big part of what I consider my priority, which is not only performing but also giving back,” says Lemalu.
Bass Jonathan Lemalu and Virtuoso Strings rehearse Photo: RNZ / Ana Tovey
