Friday 1 August, 2025:
Serenade to Music - Toi Toi Opera’s 6th Birthday Soirée
Join us & our remarkable patron Patrick Power ONZM as we celebrate Toi Toi Opera’s wonderful first six years. An exquisite evening of opera brought to you by our incredibly talented all-local cast of opera singers, répétiteurs, & creatives.
Featuring highlights from seasons past, a sneak peek of seasons yet to come, & a rare performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ shimmering ‘Serenade to Music’, this sumptuous evening of musical delights is not to be missed!
Cake & jazz by ‘After Five’ will follow in the Atrium, with cash bar available.
All proceeds of the evening to support our forthcoming opera seasons.
Date, Time, & Venue: Friday 1 August, 7.30pm. The Philip Carter Family Concert Hall, The Piano: Centre for Music and the Arts, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch The opening of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘Serenade to Music’, recorded live during our final rehearsal on 31.07.2025.
Conductor Mark Hodgkinson, répétiteur Jeremy Woodside, with singers (L to R) Emma Gilkison, Katherine Doig, Erin Connelly-Whyte, Margot Button, David Moseley, Nigel Withington, Will Lynch, Alex Robinson, William O’Brien, Oscar Kersey, John Bayne, Thomas Woodfield, Karyn Taylor-Moore, Nicole Davey, and Emily-Jane Stockman. Video © Toi Toi Opera 2025 Programme
Please Consider Making a Donation
Toi Toi Opera is a charitable trust, run by three volunteer directors donating their services free of charge, and striving towards providing fair pay for all of the artists involved in our casts, musical and creative teams, and technical crews.
Your donations are critical to helping us to enable more Cantabrians to experience the thrill of live opera. Our donee organisation status with Inland Revenue means that individuals may be able to claim a 33.33% tax credit for donations over $5.
Thank you for being here, and for helping to nurture your local operatic artists!
Saturday 2 August, 2025:
An Afternoon Masterclass with Patrick Power, ONZM
Toi Toi Opera’s Patron - Patrick Power, ONZM
Photographs © Wei Li Jiang for Toi Toi Opera
Toi Toi Opera presents an afternoon opera masterclass with Patrick Power ONZM, tenor. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome our patron, Patrick, back to Ōtautahi Christchurch as part of Toi Toi Opera's 6th birthday celebrations, which includes this very special opportunity for a public masterclass.
Five early-career opera singers from Waitaha Canterbury will have the opportunity to perform on the stage of The Philip Carter Family Concert Hall, accompanied by the immensely talented répétiteur Jeremy Woodside, and to receive feedback from one of Aotearoa's most successful opera singers and most insightful voice teachers.
We are delighted to announce that the young singers working with Patrick are sopranos Elizabeth Ellison, Emily-Jane Stockman, and Erin Connelly-Whyte, tenor David Moseley, and bass William O'Brien.
We welcome voice students, teachers, and opera lovers alike to come and observe this very special afternoon.
A donation/koha to help cover the cost of this free event is appreciated.
Date, Time, & Venue: Saturday 2 August, 2pm. The Philip Carter Family Concert Hall, The Piano: Centre for Music and the Arts, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch.Programme
We are deeply grateful to Patrick and Jeremy for contributing their time, and also to The Piano's Emerging Artist Fund for subsidising our venue cost, to allow these singers to learn under concert conditions.