News

Ex-head boy hobbles home

12/07/2011

Not even a busted knee could stop an up-and-coming opera star from performing at his old high school.

Moses MacKay, 21, is a Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist with The NBR New Zealand Opera. He and other members of the company gave a 40-minute performance from the Send in the Clownz tour inspired by Leoncavallo's Paglicci at Rosmini College on July 5.

The performance was part of the Opera in Schools programme which aims to educate new and young audiences about opera.

It will perform for more than 4000 students in schools including St Joseph's Primary, Carmel College and Belmont Intermediate.

The Albany resident is recovering from knee surgery after he injured himself back-stage during a performance.

His injury was written into this latest performance which sees his character Tiger hobble around on crutches and in wheelchair.

Moses says it was great to be back at his old school where he was head boy in 2007.

Since he left he has graduated from Auckland University with a bachelor of music performance, has had acting roles on the TV series Spartacus, appeared in tours with George Benson and Andrea Bocelli and several other operas.

Source: North Shore Times
by Lisa Honeybone

Back to news listings

Did you know?

Early opera resembled the atmosphere of a race course - chatting, food, laughter and loud comments were the norm.

During all our opera performances an English translation of the libretto is projected on screens above the stage, so you can easily follow the story.

If you are 25 years old or under you can purchase $25 tickets at the venue box office before any performance.

The world's longest opera is Wagner's The Ring Cycle, lasting over 14 hours plus intervals. That's 18 hours at the theatre.

The world's longest applause lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes as a standing ovation. The opera: Otello starring Placido Domingo.

On average, an opera will last between 2 and 3 hours, with one interval in a two act show, and two in a three act show. Operettas and musicals tend to be shorter.

Previous page
Next page