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Photo by Fiona Taylor

NZ Opera Trip

Fiona Taylor —

Don Pasquale 2pm Tuesday 30th March 2021

NZ Opera came to Christchurch to present their annual Opera in Schools performance. This year we joined St Andrew's College in their Chapel to see Donizetti's 'Don Pasquale'. This was an amazing opportunity to hear incredible voices up close and to ask the singers about their careers. The production was a 45 minute performance in English with a Kiwi setting, costumes and scenery. The Opera was shortened and made suitable for intermediate aged children. 

With the help of Nadine, one of our interns, I took 25 students to St Andrew's College Chapel. While we waited for the performance to start we were also able to appreciate the award winning architecture of the chapel and see how they had combined some of the old chapel, which had been damaged in the earthquakes, with the new build.

Here are some of our reflections on the performance:-

I really enjoyed the opera performance and would definitely go again. I loved how quickly they changed the set so that it would be a different background. The set design was really good and I liked how loud they could project their voices without using a microphone. 

Charlotte - Room 7

I think that the performance was amazing, and the costume was beautiful.

Jessica - Room 17

I think it was awesome the staging was great and their singing was beautiful

Seiji - Room 6

I think that the performance was very good and that the performance was very organised.

Sophie - Room 12

The show was great! It was quite hard to understand what they were singing, because they were singing and yelling at the same time, but 10/10 for me! I have never really seen opera before so I wanted to go to see what it was like, and I think I made a great decision.

Susan - Room 18 

I think that the performance was very organised and the costumes were very unique. YES, it is a very great performance.

Uny - Room 6

This was the first time I have gone to an opera, and it was amazing, they sang really well and their costumes were beautiful.

Zara - Room 6 

I have never been to an Opera before so having this opportunity was amazing! I was blown away by the incredible voices, the ability of all the singers was something I had not experienced before. I could have listened to Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono all day long. The humour was also great, I had a smile on my face for most of the performance. I was also impressed by how well the set was put together and the clever ways it was changed for each scene. The interaction with the students was also appropriate and helped to make their performance relatable. My perception of opera singers in fancy gowns was changed, the costumes were fresh and made the performance easy to relate to. It was great that the singers came out into the audience and included a teacher!  

Nadine - NZGSE Intern