Nerves and all. 🤍 Holly has been sharing the honest reality of a life in opera on our LinkedIn and this week it's the part that doesn't get talked about enough. "My best 'yes' moments have always been on the other side of discomfort." Showing up even when it's scary. Doing it again and again until the fear becomes part of the fuel. That's not just what opera training builds, it's what a career in this art form demands every single day. And those moments of courage? They lead somewhere. This September, Holly heads to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where she'll study under the wonderful Mary Plazas, who joined us as an international tutor at NZOS 2026 just earlier this year. Follow Holly's full journey on our LinkedIn page! #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #OperaJourney

🎶𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐙 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟕 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 🎶 We are incredibly proud to announce three extraordinary tutors joining us in Whanganui this January. Read all about their outstanding careers in the comments section below👇 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #NZOS2027 #OperaTraining #Whanganui

It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Robert Wiremu: musician, teacher, composer, and a beloved figure in the choral and classical voice community of Aotearoa. 🤍 Our own Jack Bourke, who knew Robert well, shares these words: "I lived with Robert and other musicians in Grafton in the late 1990s. I am very much the musician and lover of Early Music and Lieder - thanks to the years I lived with Robert. Robert was synonymous with music. Choral music. Classical voice training. Répétiteur. Conductor. Coach. Mentor to many. And his glorious setting of Whakaaria Mai is what I hum as I write this. May the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. Rest in peace, our friend Robert Wiremu." A life given entirely to music, and to the singers who carry it forward. We are grateful he was part of our world. 🌿

Rejection becomes its own art form in this career, Soprano Holly Evans says. And so does the resilience required to keep going anyway. "With every fear comes an opportunity to prove to ourselves what we are capable of." This is exactly what real opera training builds — not just technique, but the grit to walk back into another room after a hundred "no's." Holly has performed with us at NZOS, where mentorship is never an afterthought. The right person believing in you, pushing you, telling you the truth when you need it — that's often the difference between giving up and getting through. #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #OperaJourney

On 19 July at 5:30pm, join Faamanu Fonoti-Fuimaono for a farewell concert at the Auckland Opera Studio, alongside his brothers Jordan and Alfred, and the wonderful Katherine Winitana. Showing up is the most meaningful thing you can do for a young artist heading overseas. Faamanu has given so much to audiences here in Aotearoa - this is the chance to send him off with a full room and full hearts. 19 July · 5:30pm · 3 Glenside Crescent, Auckland 🔗 aucklandoperastudio.co.nz #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni #OperaTraining #Auckland

We're halfway through our applications window for NZOS 2027. 🎶 If you've been thinking about it, now is the time to apply! What makes these two weeks of opera training in Whanganui unlike anything else? It's not just the training, though that alone is world-class: an intensive, purely focused fortnight with international tutors and our extraordinary faculty, all in one place, all for you. It's the performance opportunities during Whanganui Opera Week. The moment you step onto a real stage, in front of a real audience, and feel what you've been working toward. And it's what comes after. The NZOS whānau doesn't end when you leave Whanganui. The mentoring, the collegial spirit, the network of singers cheering each other on from stages around the world - that stays with you. Apply today! 🔗 operaschool.org.nz/applications/application-form #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #OperaTraining #Whanganui

🌟Aotearoa, we have a winner!🌟 After an extraordinary evening at the Michael Fowler Centre with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the 2026 Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest - the most prestigious operatic competition in the country has been won by... 🥇 19 years old Tongan countertenor Samuel Mataele! WOW! 🥈 2nd place: NZOS alumna soprano Sarah Mileham 🥉 3rd place: NZOS alumnus tenor Samuel Downes What a night! What a competition! From the very first semi-final, the level of artistry on that stage took our breath away and tonight was no different. To every finalist... you were magnificent! Every single one of you! The future of opera in this country is in extraordinary hands. 🎶 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Alumni #SongQuest #Winner

Months of preparation. A flight overseas. Ten minutes in a room. Holly Evans recently shared what it's actually like behind an international audition. The waiting room full of sopranos who looked just like her - same height, same hair, same songs warming up around her. Two cameras. A grand piano. Ten members of a creative team. "Thank you, you'll hear from us tonight." Two months later, an email. "Unfortunately..." This is the part nobody knows about young operatic talents - the preparation, the cost, the rejections. It's exactly why we exist, and why opera training should not only be about the voice - it takes so much more support. Holly's sharing it all on our LinkedIn this week — go give us a follow there🤍 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #OperaJourney

Matariki is here. 🌟 Stars rising in the winter sky — each one carrying meaning. Remembrance. Gratitude. Hope. In many ways, it mirrors what we see in the singers who come through our doors every year. Young voices rising and reaching toward something extraordinary. This weekend we celebrate the Māori New Year with our entire NZOS whānau — our alumni lighting up stages from Whanganui to Wellington, London to San Francisco, to Paris and beyond. Stars of our own, rising. Mānawatia a Matariki — honour the rising. 🤍 #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Matariki

The beautiful interior of the Whanganui Collegiate chapel where ever year during the Residential NZ Opera School, the students present Oratorio music - under the title “In Praise of Music” #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #Whanganui #WhanganuiCollegiateSchool 📸: Steve Caudwell

🚨 JUST ANNOUNCED — Song Quest Finalists 2026 🚨 The 2026 Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest finalists have just been revealed — and we can barely contain ourselves. Five out of six finalists are NZOS alumni. FIVE. 🤍 Samuel Downes, Sarah Mileham, Faamanu Fonoti-Fuimaono, Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono, Cecily Shawa and Samuel Mataele. Six extraordinary singers stepping onto the Grand Final stage at the Michael Fowler Centre on 11 July with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. A huge congratulations to every semifinalist who competed — the talent we witnessed across this entire competition has been simply joyful to follow. This country is brimming with it. Make sure you get your tickets to the Grand Final Gala🔗 songquest.nz/grandfinalgala #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #SongQuest #Opera #Alumni

Tenor Samuel Downes, from Tāmaki Makaurau and now based in London, has made the semifinals of the 2026 Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest happening TONIGHT and tomorrow. 🎶 Samuel's path brought him four times to Whanganui, then on to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music - where he had the chance to study under the legendary César Ulloa. Watching him get to learn from one of the great voice teachers in the world was one of those moments we were just genuinely thrilled to see happen. Now a Harewood Artist with English National Opera. A true gem, and we mean that. 🤍 T oi! Toi! Toi! to Samuel and all the semi-finalists performing this weekend! 🔗 songquest.nz #NZOS #NZOperaSchool #SongQuest #operator