Top opera talent to take to BNZ Theatre stage in fundraising concert for city cathedral

Tuesday, 14 July 2026

Soprano Madeleine Pierard, the programme director at Te Pae Kōkako - The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio, is relishing the opportunity to perform in Hamilton.

It’s called A Night at the Opera, but the concert taking place at Hamilton’s BNZ Theatre on August 6 might be better dubbed “A Night of History”.

The event will incorporate a number of historic firsts for the city’s new flagship venue, including the inaugural Hamilton performance of several members of the new generation of New Zealand opera.

It will also mark the fruition of both the theatre itself and the Waikato region’s bourgeoning opera scene, says the concert’s organiser and co-headliner, Madeleine Pierard.

“While there has been some opera performed in the BNZ Theatre already, this concert will be the first performance of what is probably best described as traditional opera. True opera.

Madeleine Pierard will share the stage with tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, who trained at Waikato's opera school, Te Pae Kōkako and now regularly performs at The Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London.

“This is the very repertoire that the theatre was designed for. It’s purpose-built for opera.”

The soprano, who found fame after winning the Lexus Song Contest in 2005, was relishing the opportunity to sing in the new environs in what will be her first public show in Hamilton.

“I’m incredibly excited … It’s an amazing venue and the acoustics are just wonderful. For the performer, it feels like you are singing in Europe. It could easily be in Germany. It could be in Great Britain.”

The event will be a fundraiser for another top Hamilton Venue: The Waikato Cathedral Church of St Peter, which has recently begun a major restoration and earthquake strengthening project, which will also include the establishment of an on-site music centre.

St Peter’s Cathedral will be the beneficiary of the August 6 concert.

For Pierard, there is a personal link to those good intentions: Her grandfather was Monty Pierard, a music tutor and patron of the Hamilton Civic Choir, who was appointed a canon to the cathedral in 1964.

“He’s the reason our family is so musical.”

A Night at the Opera’s programme will include performances of Puccini’s famed aria Nessun Dorma, and music from Mozart’s 1786 opera The Marriage of Figaro. Throughout, the singers will be accompanied by the Waikato’s own Opus Orchestra.

As well as being one of the stars of the show, Pierard is the programme director of Te Pae Kōkako - The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio (TANZOS). Based at the University of Waikato, the fast-growing incubator has fostered much of the talent that will grace the theatre’s stage on the night.

A Night at the Opera will mark the complete actualisation of the aspirations for the BNZ Theatre as a venue, soprano Madeleine Pierard says.

Chief among these will be the other co-headliner, Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, who is now based in London as a principal artist at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Fonoti-Fuimaono was the first New Zealander to earn a place in the Jette Parker Artist Programme without prior overseas training, and he has recently been signed to the prestigious talent agency Askonas Holt.

“That kind of visibility is priceless. They just adore him in London … his star will continue to rise and rise.”

Fonoti-Fuimaono will be joined by his brothers - and fellow TANZOS graduates - Alfred, Faamanu and Jordan, in what will be a rare on-stage get-together of all four siblings.

Also appearing on stage will be TANZOS’s founder and patron, Dame Malvina Major, who will be storytelling, as opposed to singing.

“She will be seated in an armchair, and will be accompanied by her service dog, Patch. Her stories are extremely moving. She has had a lot of joy in her life, but also a lot of tragedy.”

It was due mainly to Dame Malvina’s largesse that Hamilton was now being recognised as “the centre of opera in New Zealand,” Pierard said.

She likened it to Takapoto Estate, the world-class equestrian and sporting facility on the shores of Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge, that was founded by entrepreneurs Mitch and Kate Plaw.

“I and others have built the TANZOS programme based on what she envisaged. It’s become the place to study, and has very quickly become internationally known - a real success story.”

Tickets for A Night at the Opera can be purchased via the Ticketmaster website.