The finalists and judge of the 2024 Lexus Song Quest. (L-R) Austin Haynes, Manase Latu, Sumi Jo (head judge), Katie Trigg, Morgan-Andrew King, Tayla Alexander. Photo: Hagen Hopkins / Lexus Song Quest
Five Kiwi opera singers will be battling it out for Aotearoa's biggest operatic honour this weekend.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1971. Winning the Song Quest propelled her to international stardom. Photo: Michael Stroud/Daily Express/Hulton Archive
Rising stars Austin Haynes, Manase Latu, Katie Trigg, Morgan-Andrew King and Tayla Alexander are vying to win the Lexus Song Quest, which comes with a $50,000 cash prize.
The competition, which has been held biennially since 1956, has launched the careers of some of New Zealand's best-known opera singers.
RNZ Concert will be streaming the event live from the Michael Fowler Centre on 3 August.
Lexus Song Quest executive director Angela Green explains why you should get excited.
What's the Song Quest all about?
"It's one of the most life-changing competitions for young singers in New Zealand," Green says.
Song Quest began in 1956 as a path for young New Zealand opera singers to get a kickstart in their international careers.
As Green explains, opera singing generally means performers have to go overseas to further their training with vocal experts and seek work in opera houses.
The competition "gives them a turbo charge to get themselves situated offshore", she says.
"The other beautiful thing about Song Quest is in the final, they perform with a full symphony orchestra. It's very special."
Superstar lyric coloratura soprano Sumi Jo is this year's judge. Photo: Lexus Song Quest
How does the competition work?
There are three phases, Green explains. First, singers audition by video, and a couple of preliminary judges select 10 semi-finalists from those applications.
These semi-finalists then perform two songs and one aria, accompanied by Terrence Dennis, in front of a live audience. This year's semi-finals were held in late July at St Andrew's on The Terrace in Wellington.
Head judge and superstar soprano Sumi Jo chose five finalists from these performances.
Green says this cut is based on their performance in the semi-final as well as "a kind of interview or meeting with the judge beforehand to talk about their career ambitions and what they want to do, to get a sense of them as a well-rounded person".
In the grand final, the five contestants perform three songs of their own choosing - two arias and one song - sans mic.
"Each singer will come out and sing one song with the piano, and they'll go through all five, and then they'll come back in the second half to sing two songs each with the orchestra.
"I guess they'll try and out-sing each other, but because the voices are all so different, especially this year, there's quite a spread.
"They'll each just do their very best on the night, I'm sure."
Who are this year's finalists?
Counter-tenor Austin Haynes is a singer, poet, translator and researcher who grew up in Arrowtown and Melbourne. As well as his opera career, Haynes teaches te reo Māori online, and is researching a PhD on the history of translation of song and literature into te reo Māori.
Kiwi-Tongan tenor Manase Latu was a finalist in the 2018 Lexus Song Quest. Latu, who grew up in Auckland, has a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland and a Postgraduate Diploma in Vocal Studies at the Royal College of Music in London as a Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar. He is currently based in New York, where he recently completed the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera and made his Met debut in the 2021-22 season as Second Player in Hamlet.
Māori bass-baritone Morgan-Andrew King hails from Waikato and is currently studying a postgraduate degree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, USA. King has received numerous prestigious scholarships and mentorships and has debuted a range of operatic roles internationally, with performances in the US, Italy and Australia.
Mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg is also from the Waikato and she, too, is studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Trigg was a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Studio Artist with New Zealand Opera in 2021. Internationally, she has featured as a soloist for the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia's Festival O23, and Wolf Trap Opera.
Soprano Tayla Alexander was a semi-finalist in last year's Song Quest. She's recently been awarded the bicentennial scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, which will see her complete an intensive masters programme from September 2024. Alexander has a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland and was selected as a 2023 New Zealand Opera Studio Artist. She works regularly as a soloist with them, as well as the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, Auckland Youth Orchestra and the Auckland Opera Studio.
Filipe Manu won the last competition in 2022. Photo: Hagen Hopkins
What's up for grabs?
The grand final winner will receive a cash prize of $50,000. The runner-up will get $20,000, third place will receive $15,000, and the remaining finalists each receive $3500.
Who are the big-name past winners?
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of Aotearoa's most famous opera singers, won the contest in 1965. Dame Malvina Major, Jonathan Lemalu, and Sol3 Mio's Amitai Pati are other notable winners. But as Green says, "most of the winners and competitors have gone on to forge some pretty amazing careers across the world".
Who are the judges this year?
Internationally renowned rehearsal director Peter Lockwood and 1996 Song Quest winner Andrea Creighton served as the preliminary judges this year, while the grand final will feature South Korean soprano Sumi Jo as the international head judge. Jo will select the winners and runners-up on the night.
What are the judges looking for?
"Each judge will bring a set of things they're looking for and I suspect it will be informed by what they know about the international context," Green explains.
"We don't have a checklist of criteria for the Quest - it's more [a case of] what the judges bring.
"But from what I've seen over the past Quests, judges are obviously looking for really great musicality and tone of voice and quality of voice, but they are also, I suspect, looking for their performance quality and the special something they have as a performer, and probably something to do with how well they think they'll be able to succeed offshore."
Finalists in the 2022 Lexus Song Quest. Photo: Hagen Hopkins
What's the dress code?
On a technical level, opera singers will often wear costuming that allows them to project their voices to the back of the stalls. At the Lexus Song Quest, practicality will meet fashion in the form of some "pretty snazzy outfits", Green says.
Increasingly, finalists are finding ways to express their cultural heritage through their outfits.
"Generally, the women perform in gowns and the men in suits or tuxedos, and I think it's interesting over time how the fashion of that changes. Men often have the snazzier suit now, it's kind of cool, and there'll be at least one costume change per finalist, I'm sure."
Where can I watch it?
The Lexus Song Quest grand final will be livestreamed by RNZ Concert on the RNZ website from 7.30pm on Saturday, 3 August, live from the Michael Fowler Centre. RNZ presenter and host of Music Alive, Clarissa Dunn, will be MCing the event.
Listen to the semi-final performances, recorded by RNZ Concert, here and here.
Follow all RNZ's coverage here.
