N.Z. Cast For Opera

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31864, 17 December 1968, Page 18

N.Z. Cast For Opera

For the first time an internationally known New Zealand cast has been assembled for the double bill booked for the coming-of-age Auckland Festival next March— Mozart’s “11 Seraglio” and Beethoven's “Fidelio,” presented by the New Zealand Opera Company. New Zealanders have taken major roles in the past, but this will be the first time that all principal roles have been taken by people who have established themselves elsewhere as well as in this country. Mozart’s great romp in the harem, “11 Seraglio.” will have as its principal Inia Te Wiata, the basso who left New Zealand 20 years ago and is a frequent performer at Covent Garden, Sadlers Wells, and European opera

bouses, singing the buffo role of Osmin.

Malvina Major,, one of the most successful sopranos to have been produced here, will sing Constanza, the principal role opposite him. She will return for her second visit home within a year—she was here to sing the lead in “Sound of Music” in Hamilton earlier this year. The role of Blonde will be taken by Emily Mair of Wellington, frequently heard in public and on 8.8. C. radio and TV before she came to New Zealand three years ago.

Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio," will be conducted by Ray Wilson, of Auckland, who has already given two concert performances of the work. The more recent was the highly successful one at

the Auckland Festival this year, when the basso Donald Mclntyre returned to sing Pizarro.

Mr Wilson, conductor of the Auckland Choral Society for more than a decade, also studied conducting under Hans Swarowski at the Vienna Academy of Music in 1962, and has since been guest conductor with other organisations. This will be his first appearance with the Opera Company. The role of Leonora in “Fidelio” will be taken by Elisabeth Hellawell, who has sung it magnificently in both the previous performances, and the tenor will again be Ramon Opie, one of the few in the world today, according to Mclntyre, capable of I sustaining the demanding singing role. ’