Congratulations to Faamanu Fonoti-Fuimaono, winner of the Dunedin Senior Vocal Competition, and to runner-up Cadence Chung — both NZOS alumni. 🎶 Always wonderful to see our patron Simon O'Neill adjudicating at competitions like this — what a privilege for all the singers who performed. To every singer who competed — bravo. Seeing our alumni shine at vocal competitions across the country fills us with so much joy. 🤍 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #dunedin 📸: Thank you, Cadence, for the snap! Bravo Dunedin Performing Arts Competitions Society for giving young artists this wonderful opportunity!

Wonderful news from our 2025 alumna Charlotte McDonald. 🤍 She just took first place in the Norah Howell Recital Class at the Hamilton Competitions. 🏆 That trophy says it all. So thrilled for you, Charlotte. 🤍 🌟#NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni

We were proud to support this application and even prouder to see it succeed. 🤍 The New Zealand Piano Tuners and Technicians Guild has just secured Tertiary Education Commission funding for the New Zealand Certificate in Piano Tuning and Technology. A watershed moment for an incredibly important craft. Opera depends on well-tuned, well-maintained instruments. Behind every performance, every rehearsal, every masterclass, every Whanganui Opera Week, there is a piano technician whose work makes it all possible. This qualification ensures that expertise is trained, recognised and preserved in Aotearoa for generations to come. Congratulations to the NZPTTG and LetsGoMusic on this remarkable achievement. 🎹 🔗 letsgomusic.ac.nz #LetsGoMusic #PianoTuning #Aotearoa

Every year, alongside our two weeks of intensive training, Whanganui comes alive with opera during Whanganui Opera Week - performances open to the public, right here in the heart of our beautiful town. 🎶 A rare chance to hear tomorrow's operatic stars up close. Friends of NZOS get first access to tickets from 1 September. General Public tickets on sale from 1 October. Not yet a Friend of NZOS? Now might be the time. 😏https://operaschool.org.nz/support/friends-of-the-opera-school/ #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #OperaTraining #Whanganui

Tomairangi Henare just made the final of the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship and we are absolutely over the moon! 🎉 Five singers. One of the most coveted opera scholarships in Australia. An exceptional semifinal at Opera Australia's Fairfax Studio that got him here. And now the Final at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Saturday 29 August. He started the last three years with us in Whanganui. Look at him now. Go get it, Tomairangi! 🤍 🎟️ sydneyeisteddfod.com.au #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni

Donald and Ian made the trip to Wellington for Manon last week and what a cast to witness! NZOS alumni everywhere you looked. 🤍 A post-show catch-up with outstanding baritones Phillip Rhodes and Kieran Rayner. Two of ours, doing what they do best, in a sold-out season that had the whole country travelling to Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Moments like these🤍 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni #manon

We had the loveliest catch-up with our alumna Cecily Shaw recently and what a season she's had. 🤍 Back from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, and this year a Song Quest finalist performance that had everyone talking. Cecily was magnificent throughout the competition and we couldn't be prouder! You have the chance to listen to Cecily live in not one but two concerts, one of them alongside Song Quest winner himself, countertenor Samuel Mataele. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝟏 — 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞 St Peter's Cathedral, Hamilton With Francis Cowan on piano and Margaret Thompson on organ 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝟐 — 𝐍𝐙 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 Tuesday 18 August · 1pm Symphonia Music Centre, Auckland With Samuel Mataele and pianist Rachel Fuller Reserve via [email protected] #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni #OperaTraining

Our incoming 2027 tutor Julien Van Mellaerts has released something beautiful. 🎶 Dialogues pairs Schubert’s Schwanengesang with The Lake, a newly commissioned cycle by Errollyn Wallen, current Master of the King’s Music. Rather than placing the two composers in contrast, the album weaves them together into a single, intimate arc. Schubert and a living composer in genuine conversation across two centuries. This is what an artist does when they’re not on stage. They keep thinking, keep creating, keep asking questions. We cannot wait to have Julien in Whanganui in January. 🤍Listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/album/3EugBnkx36JPkzCln1Xumu 📸 Delphian Records

The countertenor voice is having a moment! Recently, two young New Zealand countertenors made their mark. Samuel Mataele, just 19, walked onto the Michael Fowler Centre stage with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and won the 2026 Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest. Our own alumnus Jack Doyle heads to the Royal College of Music in London next month. Two young voices. One extraordinary moment for an extraordinary voice type. We could not be more excited for what comes next. 🤍 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni #OperaTraining #Countertenor

Simon O'Neill was one of the first singers to walk through our doors in Whanganui. Now he's the patron of our school and one of the most celebrated heldentenors on the planet 🤍 gracing the biggest stages. The Met. La Scala. Bayreuth. The Vienna State Opera. The Royal Opera House. And now, this August, home — singing Wagner in Wellington and Auckland with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. 🎟️ Get your tickets to this Wagner extravaganza https://www.nzso.co.nz/the-nzso/events-tickets/events/radiance #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #SimonOneill #Wagner #NZSO

The applications have been pouring in and we are so grateful. 🤍 If you haven't applied yet — these are the last hours. New Zealand Opera School 2027 brings some of the most sought-after vocal tutors in the world to Whanganui in January. Two weeks of intensive training, stagecraft, movement, and real performance opportunities in front of audiences. Everything it takes to become a fully formed operatic artist, right here in Aotearoa. Today is the day. 🎶 🔗 operaschool.org.nz/applications/application-form #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #NZOS2027 #OperaTraining #Whanganui

Singing is just the beginning. 🎶 New Zealand Opera School trains the whole artist — voice, yes, but also stage presence, movement, and everything it takes to walk onto an operatic stage with confidence and conviction. And then it puts you on that stage, in front of real audiences during Whanganui Opera Week, to put it all into practice. Two weeks. Twenty-one singers. January in Whanganui. Applications close 31 July at 5pm. 🔗 operaschool.org.nz/applications/application-form #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #OperaTraining #Whanganui