NZ Opera Chair Annabel Holland's Five Faves

Annabel Holland is the new chair of NZ Opera’s board.

She lives in Christchurch, and is well-known in the field of architectural design, as well as opera circles.

Annabel is also very active in the arts scene in general – having been a Trustee and Interim Chair of Christchurch’s Centre of Contemporary Art To Moroki.

Annabel is passionate about opera and is committed to connecting people with what she describes as the “extraordinary experience of opera.”

We invited her into the studio to play us five favourite tracks.

Puccini’s ‘Mio bambino caro’ from Gianni Schicchi sung by Dame Kiri te Kanawa

This is an aria from the one act, black comedic opera, Gianni Schicchi, used in the film, ‘A Room with a view’.

It was my first experience where I heard opera and it touched me, and it was combined with an Italian setting.

The two, bound up in a romantic movie … what’s not to like! Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands acting. And the aria was sung by Dame Kiri.

I remember my mother dressing up to go to the opera - a glam night out with friends, but I think it was the movie and that aria in particular that hooked me into opera.

The movie also had Puccini’s ‘Chi il bel sogno di Doretta’ from La Rondine, so with those two arias, romance bloomed on screen. Both arias still touch my heart and take me back to Florence and the Arno River.

I love Italy. I love the language, the food, and the theatre of the people in public places. It’s captivating.

I remember a beautiful, two-year-old girl, with a mass of blonde curls determined to boss our 18 month old son in the village piazza.

Thankfully, Harry had his wits about him. John and I’d love to go back to Verona one day to sit on the blocks of pink marble and watch an opera in the amphitheatre.

Opera is not just for the stage either, think of all those famous arias that have built suspense, or heightened the romance in a movie.

Opera stirs your emotions, and the human voice, it somehow grabs you.

You’re transported to another place, more keenly, when it’s live in an audience, but it’s used to great effect in a movie.

Verdi’s Il Trovatore ‘Anvil Chorus’

I was fortunate to flat with an opera singer who performed tenor arias every day in the bathroom … best acoustics apparently!

It never worked for me though. I think Il Travotore was one of my first operas that I went to when I was in my early 20s, at the Christchurch Town Hall. My flat mate was bare chested in the ‘Anvil Chorus’, so we gave him a lot of flack.

It’s a chorus of ‘the people’, “the joyous shouts resound”. The pounding of the anvils, it’s raw and earthy.

My opera attendance flourished though, when I met my husband to be, and his parents.

I remember a particularly blood splattered set at the end of ‘Lucia di Lammermore’. They were avid supporters of the opera. In later years they went on many great trips with opera at the heart of them.

I was also lucky enough that John and I would attend corporate functions for emerging artists and not only would we hear them sing in intimate settings, but Dame Malvina Major always performed. It was inspirational for us to experience her voice and to be so close to her.

I think for me, getting hooked on opera took time. The more I experienced it the more transformative it became.

Now I can to go to the same opera many times in a season and experience different feelings as I enjoy different aspects of the performance.

Like Madama Butterfly, in 2015. I was pleased there was a moment’s pause between the curtain falling and the lights coming on. It was a beautiful performance that brought me to tears.

Puccini’s Tosca ‘E lucern le stelle’ sung by Simon O’Neill

I have been privileged to meet Simon O’Neill in recent years, and to hear the magnitude of his voice not only in the theatre but also in a small setting.

I attended a masterclass he gave at the University of Canterbury, School of Music, which is now located in the Arts Centre.

I was in awe of the students performing but then to hear Simon’s tuition

and for him to sing by example. I’m not from a musical background, so it was a lesson for me too about opera and what the voice is capable of.

Of course, it all came together on stage, when Simon was joined by Orla Boylan and Teddy Tahu Rhodes, performing Puccini’s Tosca, in the NZ Opera 2018 season.

I love the fact that Simon, was born in Ashburton, and is now an international opera singer of world renown.

New Zealand continues to blood great singers and then bring them home. We are very fortunate to have many supporters of artists, industry and the national company that allows us to do that.

Nina Simone ‘Mood Indigo’

John and I love jazz. We never saw Nina Simone but we did see Cleo Laine at the Christchurch Town Hall.

Yet again, it’s Simone’s voice that seeps into you and goes right down into the dark places, while on the next track you’re tapping your toes.

There’s a richness in her voice that is absorbing.

I listened to a lot of Nina Simone when I was flatting too, and my parents enjoyed Winton Marsellis among other jazz artists.

I have an eclectic collection of music. Pink Martini is another favourite, their songs make me smile.

‘We no speak Americano’ by Yolanda be Cool

This one is a bit random, but it has a special place in our family.

The 3 of us travelled to Croatia and Sicily when Harry was 11 years old. We often listened to each other’s songs, and this one was on Harry’s playlist.

We went into a bar one evening in Castellammare del Golfo, a seaside town, and up on the tv, came ‘We no speak Americano’.

Not long after that, as we were having dinner, a group of Italian men, shirts unbuttoned, sporting dark glasses and gold chains came in.

They had a presence of owning the place and then the ‘familia’ turned up and occupied the long table just beside us. We kept our heads down and concentrated on dinner.