|
|
Post by Ross on Apr 29, 2009 4:57:01 GMT
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif On May 10th I am going to the Christchurch Cathedral to see Dame Malvina Major and the Christchurch City Choir. This might be the last public concert that Dame Malvina is going to do before she retires to concentrate on her teaching. One of her students, Polly Ott, will also be singing. PS There are a lot of musicals coming to Christchurch shortly. I will go to see Starlight Express in July. I hope to go see Mama Mia in September but that depends on when Hayley is touring New Zealand. And on at the moment is a local production of Miss Siagon.
|
|
|
|
Post by comet on May 4, 2009 10:36:42 GMT
May just pop in for this one.
see you there 
|
|
|
|
Post by Ross on May 4, 2009 19:57:17 GMT
May just pop in for this one.
see you there I hope you do. I will be there too. |
|
|
|
Post by Ross on Aug 10, 2013 8:05:17 GMT
Tonight at the new Cardboard Cathedral I had the pleasure of seeing Dame Malvina Major sing some arias. She is pure class and still a great opera singer. Also tonight we had the Christchurch City Choir which is an all male and boys church choir who were great.
At the end she received a deserving standing ovation from the sold out audience of 700.
|
|
|
|
Post by martindn on Jan 1, 2014 18:42:53 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by martindn on Jan 1, 2014 18:45:04 GMT
Or in full
Fond homecoming for Dame Malvina
Last updated 08:15 31/12/2013
WORLD RENOWNED: Dame Malvina Major is scheduled to perform in Taranaki in 2014.
Entertainment
Clip of the week: Bicycle Fond homecoming for Dame Malvina January gig guide Booker Prize winner tops arts list Quiz: Inventors and Inventions Festival high-fliers Catch Kora On a wing and a prayer Mayfair hosting youth party Living the dream
Taranaki favourite Dame Malvina Major will take to the stage at the Bowl of Brooklands next year. Reporter Taryn Utiger spoke to the opera singer to see how life has been since she moved away from the province.
Dame Malvina Major is a world-class opera singer but the former Coastal Taranaki dairy farmer misses seeing cows every day.
After winning the New Zealand Mobil Song Quest in 1963 and studying in London, the Hamilton- born singer, her husband Winston Fleming and their young son Andrew settled on a farm at Pihama in Coastal Taranaki.
Before the 70s finished the rising international star had two more children, Alethea and Lorraine, fell in love with life in Taranaki and declared herself content with being a farmer, wife and mother. Despite her contentment, overseas conductors asked for the gumboot-wearing diva when they came to tour New Zealand and by 1986 she was back on the international stage.
It seemed, for a while, she could have her career, her family and her farm. That ideal was shattered four years later when tragedy struck the family.
In September 1990 her husband died suddenly at home.
He had come back from the milking shed complaining about pains in his chest.
Although she rushed to phone the doctor and get her husband into bed, he died right after telling her, "I love you".
She left Taranaki soon after.
Since then she has gone on to dominate the opera world, perform for kings and queens and amass a series of concerts many would envy.
Next year she celebrates 60 years as one of the world's top opera singers and she is eagerly awaiting her concert at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands.
Her family members have been rounded up and will be watching from the hills of the popular amphitheatre.
"It's quite good, really, and my family are very excited about it," she told the Taranaki Daily News.
Although her career has gone from strength to strength, Major still longs for the life she left behind in Taranaki in the 90s.
"I absolutely miss the farm. I miss the cows, I miss the outdoors and I miss seeing the girls riding horses," she said.
The last time she performed at the Bowl was with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and she treasures the memory so much that she has kept a special memento.
She says she still has a photo of the concert where the stage and the performers are reflected perfectly in the water.
"You could turn it over and it would look exactly the same. It's beautiful," she said.
Ad Feedback
Major thinks of the Bowl as one of her favourite venues in which to perform and be in the audience.
"It's very good that the council have refurbished it to its former glory. It really does look superb," she said.
Major, who in 2007 became a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her lifelong service to opera, most enjoys performing concerts in the venues like the Bowl.
"I'm not interested in performing in operas any more.
"I'm keen to perform with young people and introduce them to the stage. They gain a lot of knowledge from performing with experienced people.
"And if I'm still singing at my age it gives them hope of a strong career if they work hard," she said.
She sees herself handing over the metaphorical torch to up-and-coming stars and says she usually only makes cameo appearances now.
A large number of the musicians and singers she works with have had involvement with the Dame Malvina Major Foundation.
"It's the next generation of performers and I wish it was my own family," she says.
Over her years in the spotlight Major has seen many talented young people succeed, and many fail. The list of successes includes two notable stars being Hayley Westenra and Taranaki soprano Bryony Williams.
"Bryony is one of the young stars. She's worked very hard to get to where she is.
"Her family actually bought my old house when they moved to Taranaki," she says.
Williams, who is studying in England, represents what is needed to make it on the world stage, Major says.
"To succeed at any type of music you must have the X factor, the charisma, the passion and the want, otherwise you just give up."
She says many people with extraordinary voices have never succeeded because they lack the willpower to persevere.
"It's a heartbreak, really.
"You can't teach passion or emotion, it is something that is inside them," she says.
She hopes to bring that passion to the stage in February when she is here for her diamond jubilee concert.
She will be joined by some talented entertainers she says are a pleasure to work with.
Among that talent is London- based New Zealander Geoff Sewell, an internationally successful tenor and multi-platinum selling recording star.
He was one of the creators and founding members of the international sensation Amici Forever - a classical-crossover sensation and the world's first multi-platinum selling opera band.
The lineup also includes the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, who exploded on to the New Zealand folk and country music scene in 1968, and long-running band Hogsnort Rupert.
Completing the lineup is the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band, the country's largest and only full symphonic band.
It made its public debut in 1937, leading a procession through Wellington to mark the coronation of King George VI.
Helping to showcase other talent is a passion of Major's and she says she prefers to devote her time to developing other performers.
"I'm fortunate to be able to do that," she said.
--------------------
DAME MALVINA MAJOR FOUNDATION: The foundation was first launched in 1991 to support the training of young New Zealand artists. Dame Malvina Major engaged her contacts throughout New Zealand to set up regional committees. The committees award scholarships to assist young artists to achieve their dreams. The foundation now has committees in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Taranaki, Waikato and Wellington. The work of the foundation is funded by private and corporate sponsors.
--------------------
OPERA CAREER: Major's international opera career has provided her with a resume many in the industry envy. Highlights of her major operatic roles include Mathilde in Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra, Rosina in II Barbiere di Sivilgia, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, The Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte.
--------------------
|
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Oct 4, 2015 7:03:36 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by martindn on Oct 4, 2015 17:47:56 GMT
I'm sure we all wish her a happy retirement.
Martin D
|
|
