From Ngāhinapōuri to Los Angeles. 🤍 Katie Trigg — mezzo-soprano, 2024 Lexus Song Quest winner, and graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, one of the most prestigious conservatoires in the world — is living her 2026 season at LA Opera and we are here for every moment of it. Akhnaten, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Candide — and a trip home to sing with the Auckland Philharmonia in Madama Butterfly in July. She's barely stopping for breath. So cool indeed, Katie. 🧡 #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #OperaTraining #LAOpera

Last week's Champagne & Opera at the Bellini Bar looked a little something like this. 🥂🖤 This Friday — 15 May — it's Shana Matthews and Anh Thu Nguyen accompanied by David Kelly bringing the magic, with the Waitemata Harbour as your backdrop and Champagne Pommery in hand. Every Friday. Every time, different voices. Every time, unforgettable. 6.30pm · Bellini Bar · Hilton Auckland Reserve your table at bellini.co.nz/champagne-opera #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Hilton #Auckland #OperaxChampagne

Thank you to Kay Jones and family for sharing this beautiful photo of the ‘NZ Opera School Rose’ with us! Kay says ‘we are absolutely delighted with The NZ Opera School Rose. It is thriving beautifully and is covered in lots of glorious blooms. It is bringing us a great deal of joy. The colour and quality is absolutely stunning, and we just couldn't wait to share it with you. Thank you so much!’ We love hearing about the joy our rose is bringing to our supporters, and we are so grateful to Matthews Nurseries for breeding an extra special one for us! The quality of their plants and service is unparalleled! Matthews Nurseries have confirmed that this year’s NZ Opera School rose plants will be arriving in their stockists during June. Check out their website to find a garden centre stockist local to you: https://www.matthewsroses.co.nz/stockists/ #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #NZOSRose

Charlotte. Oper Frankfurt. A role debut that had audiences on their feet. 🖤 Our 2012 alumna Bianca Andrew just finished a run as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther at Oper Frankfurt — opposite internationally sought-after tenor John Osborn, in a production that has been a Frankfurt fixture since 2005. German critics called her "deeply moving." We're not surprised. Bianca has been a full ensemble member at one of Europe's most respected opera houses since 2019. This season alone she sang Carmen and Charlotte — two enormous mezzo roles — both for the first time. That's not a coincidence. That's an artist operating at the very top of her game. What a journey, Bianca. 🤍 #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #OperaTraining #LAOpera 📸 Barbara Aumuller

One of the most meaningful things you can do for a young artist heading overseas to study is showing up. 🤍 Ridge Ponini and Holly Evans are both London-bound this September — and on 6 June at Symphonia Hall, Auckland they're giving you one last chance to hear them before they go, joined by David Kelly for an evening of operatic and musical theatre classics. Students $30 · General $60 · VIP $100 6pm–8pm · 57-59 Wellington Street, Freemans Bay Go. You won't regret it. 🎶 #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Opera #OperaTraining

Your Friday nights just got an upgrade. 🥂 Every Friday from 6.30pm alumni from NZ Opera School take over the Bellini Bar at Hilton Auckland — live opera, Champagne Pommery, and the Waitematā Harbour as your backdrop. This is what supporting young artists looks like when it's also an absolutely wonderful night out. Reserve a premium table for 6 with champagne and a cheese & charcuterie platter for $158! 👉https://bellini.co.nz/champagne-opera/ #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Hilton #Auckland #OperaxChampagne

Cheerleader Despina. Buzzball mishaps. Questionable disguises. 😂 Alexandra Francis has been having the time of her life in London with Glass Light Opera's Così fan tutte — and honestly, Despina is the role that was made for her energy. We love seeing our alumni finding their people and their place on stages abroad. Keep going, Alexandra — we can't wait to see what comes next. 🤍 #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #OperaTraining

ALUMNUS SPOTLIGHT | Bass Morgan Andrew King. Paris. 🖤 Morgan has just announced he'll be joining the Opéra National de Paris as part of their Troupe for the 2026/27 season — performing across Hamlet, Il Trovatore, Idomeneo and Don Giovanni on one of the most storied opera stages in the world. For a bass, this is the dream. And he's living it. So quietly thrilled for you, Morgan. 🤍 #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #Bass 📸: @gesichtgewitter

🎶LONDON CALLING 🎶 Before they go, they're coming back to the place that helped shape them. Ridge Ponini and Faamanu Fonoti-Fuimaono - both London-bound this September - are performing an intimate farewell concert here in Whanganui. Arias, duets, song, and two voices you'll want to hear up close before they head overseas. You've cheered them on from the very beginning. Now's the time to show up one more time — it means more than you know. Saturday 23 May at 12 noon Whanganui Regional Museum Only 120 tickets. Tickets: https://rwoh.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/164172 Also available from the Royal Whanganui Opera House Box Office #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni #operatraining

Right now — this week — Cecilia Zhang is on stage at the Royal Ballet & Opera, Covent Garden. Covering Julia in The Departure and Irina in Four Sisters (a world premiere, no less) in a triple bill of chamber operas by women composers. Running until 9 May! What a way to close her time at the Royal College of Music. 🎭 And she's already announced her next chapter — joining the Wilhelmsen Opera Studio at the Norwegian National Opera next season. If you're in London this week, you know what to do. 🤍 #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #OperaTraining

Second year as a Jette Parker Artist at the Royal Ballet And Opera, Covent Garden. And next season? He's only gone and landed a principal role in Don Giovanni. 🎭 Don Ottavio. On that stage. One night. We'll take it. Emmanuel Fonoti Fuimaono is also covering Don Ottavio, Tamino, and Pinkerton next season — three of the most coveted tenor roles in the repertoire — while performing across Parsifal, Un ballo in maschera, Die Zauberflöte and Il trittico throughout the year. Covent Garden spotted something special. We're not surprised. 🤍 📷 Throwback to Emmanuel at one of our Winter Galas — never one to hold back with the audience, never one to hold back on stage either. Funny? Absolutely. Talented? Even more so. #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #OperaTraining

Five years of training with us at NZ Opera School. And this year, watching him on stage in the Mary Plazas masterclass, we just knew he was ready. This September Faamanu moves to London to study a Master's in Performance at the @Royal College of Music — supported by a significant scholarship. The hard work, the dedication, the hours — it all pays off. We are so, so happy for you, Faamanu. 🤍 ✨ #NZOperaSchool #NZOS #Alumni #Opera #operatraining @fammanu.ff_bari @rcmlondon