For Immediate Release
23 December, 2024
2025 Opera in the Pā steadfast to event traditions
The 2025 Opera in the Pā will hold steadfast to the early traditions of the event – celebrating and showcasing Māori, Pasifika and rangatahi voices, alongside some of the world’s most renowned stage stars.
And in the latest evolution of the iconic event, Opera in the Pā will take to the stage in the Sir Howard Morrison Centre’s hallowed concert theatre on Sunday 4 March, 2025. Tickets are available now through Ticketmaster.
International bass singer Eddie Muliaumaseali’I, his wife, renowned English mezzo soprano Sarah Sweeting, and Arrowtown’s Austin Haynes, a countertenor, will headline the event, which will be led by musical director Claire Caldwell, and supported by Samoan-German pianist and composer, Ludwig Treviranus.
Opera in the Pā chair, Liz Carrington says trustees are “absolutely thrilled” with the line-up, which director Claire Caldwell curated in less than a week.
“Opera in the Pā is an iconic local event, and 2025’s lineup will maintain it’s exceptionally high-quality reputation. There are also two up-and-coming rangatahi singers who are set to be added to the bill, and we know it will be an evening that won’t disappoint old and new fans,” says Ms Carrington.
“Opera in the Pā was first held in 1997, and in that time it has been held in a number of different locations, including at Tamatekapua, the Rotorua Arts Village, on Mokoia Island, and most recently, at Te Puia’s Rotowhio Marae.
“The fantastic bounceback of tourism in our city means tourism operators have a full summer season on their hands, and we felt it was timely to showcase the event in another of our city’s cultural icons, the Sir Howard Morrison Centre.
“The Sir Howard Morrison Centre is Rotorua’s most prominent cultural hub. It’s refurbishment in recent years was specifically designed to be make it the puumanawatanga (beating heart), where Māori and Pakeha culture, manaakitanga and toi whakaari are woven together.
“Its stunning new foyer is enriched with Te Arawa and Ngāti Whakaue design ideologies, so it is the perfect location to showcase this special music and singers.
“We can’t wait to share the latest evolution of Opera in the Pā with locals and manuhiri alike,” says Ms Carrington.
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Artist Biographies
Eddie Muliaumaseali’i (Bass)
Eddie started his career in Aotearoa and has sung in Australia, Europe and the United States in concerts, musicals and operas. He has been a regular company member with Opera Australia’s regional touring wing, OZopera since 1999 and in 2013 became Opera Australia’s most travelled singer, completing 11 tours and more than 350 performances all around Australia.
Eddie studied at the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music and was the winner of the McDonald’s Aria Award (Sydney). His OZopera roles include Zuniga (Carmen), Sparafucile, Monterone and Ceprano (Rigoletto), The Bonze (Madame Butterfly), Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Marquis and Doctor (La traviata), as well as Masetto and Comendatore (Don Giovanni).
He was a member of the Tiroler Landestheater (2000 – 2005), Innsbruck, Austria, performing in opera and musicals, and performed in Don Giovanni, Madame Butterfly and La Boheme for Melbourne Opera.
Eddie was also a member of the Mercury Theatre from 1987 to 1992 where he began his opera career with his brother Sani. They both made their Australian Opera House debut in 1996 singing in Porgy and Bess.
Sarah Sweeting (Mezzo Soprano)
Born in the United Kingdom, with Opera Awards and three Green Room Award nominations, Sarah has performed more than 60 roles across the world, including in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, China, Asia and Barbados.
She began her professional career aged 22, including at The London Palladium.
She has since worked for Opera Australia, Melbourne Opera, Opera Queensland, State Opera South Australia, Opera Holland Park, Longborough Opera, Lyric Opera Dublin, London City Opera, Lyric Opera Melbourne, The Australian International Opera Company, The Jakarta Music Festival, The Macau Music Festival, The Carl Rosa Opera Company, The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, Holders Festival Opera, London Festival Opera, Raymond Gubbay Productions, GAFA Arts London, Travelling Opera, Co Opera and Opera Bites.
Notable roles include Fricka, Erda, Sieglinde, Waltraute, Schwertleite, (Der Ring Des Nibelungen), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Venus (Tannhauser), Brangaene (Tristan und Isolde), Amneris (Aida), Carmen, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), La Suora Zelatrice (Suor Angelica), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor), Leonora (Il Trovatore), Alma March (Little Women), Musetta (La Boheme), Berta (The Barber of Seville), Liu (Turandot). She also performed the role of Annina in Opera Australia’s La Traviata for their inaugural Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour.
On the concert platform, Sarah has appeared as a soloist at the Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre for the Covent Garden Festival, opera performances at the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, Beethoven’s 9thSymphony at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Notturni Ed Alba (John McCabe) at Westminster Central Hall (broadcast by the BBC) and starred in the opening gala of the Melbourne Fashion Week.
Austin Haynes (Counter Tenor)
Alongside singing countertenor, Austin is a poet, translator and researcher originally from Kā Muriwai Arrowtown.
He studied a BA and a Masters in medieval and renaissance literature at Oxford University and made his professional opera debut as Liang Shanbo in Richard Mills’ The Butterfly Lovers in Singapore in 2023. His recent roles have included Aeneas in Pepusch’s Death of Dido, the Spirit (Purcell, Dido and Aeneas), the Cold Genius (Purcell, King Arthur) and Nyukhin (Hogarth, The Evils of Tobacco).
His recent solo repertoire includes Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, Cozzolani’s Vespers, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Bach’s Laßt uns Sorgen, Laßt uns Wachen.
In Australia Austin has performed as a soloist with the Brandenburg Orchestra and the Evergreen Ensemble, while in the United Kingdom he has soloed with Instruments of Time and Truth, the Oxford Bach Soloists, New Chamber Opera, and the Selene Consort.
He won the 2022 Herald Sun Aria competition in Melbourne and the City of Kingston Aria from Grand Opera prize that same year. In 2024, he came third in the Lexus Song Quest.
He was a finalist in this year’s Lockwood New Zealand Aria, winning the Mountain Jade
Māori Song, the second prize for Baroque/Classical aria, and was also awarded the Ethel and William Harman Ambassador’s Award.
In the United Kingdom, his private voice studies are supported by the Isla Baring Prize from the Tait Trust, and previously by the Isla Baring Birthday Prize and the Tait White Loewenthal Memorial Prize.
In Oxford, Austin was a choral scholar with the choir of Queen’s College Oxford and the Oxford Bach Soloists, and in September 2025, he will commence a Masters in Voice at the Royal College of Music on a full scholarship.
Claire Caldwell (Musical Director)
After working as the Performing Arts Manager and Director of Choral Music at Dilworth School, Claire is now the director of Musicatalyst, a studio and coaching programme. Her is on musical collaboration and ensuring that the next generation of singers in Aotearoa have access to the best musical experiences and training available.
She has worked with many of the country’s finest operatic talent both in the rehearsal room and on the concert platform through her work at the University of Auckland, Dame Kiri te Kanawa Foundation, Auckland Opera Studio, New Zealand Aria Competition and New Zealand Opera.
She is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most sought-after accompanists, including working with Sol3 Mio since their inception in 2012, providing accompaniment for their big arena concerts, and featuring as Musical Director on their acclaimed DVD “Ladies and Gentlemen, Sol3 Mio Live” released in 2014 by Universal Music.
Claire is the Assistant Musical Director and Accompanist for the Auckland Youth Choir, and was Chorus Director for NZ Opera for the 2022/23 season, including performances of Il Trovatore , Macbeth. Cosi fan tutte, Die tote Stadt.
Her students have made their mark on stages around the world, including winning the Lexus Songquest and Lockwood Aria, being selected for prestigious Young Artists programmes in London and New York, and recently making their operatic debuts at the Royal Opera House in London, The Metropolitan Opera House, Scottish and Paris Opera amongst others.
Ludwig Treviranus (Pianist and Composer)
Ludwig Treviranus is a pianist and composer of Samoan/German heritage, and was part of the lineup for the last Opera in the Pā.
From 2020/21 he was appointed Fellow of Piano Performance at the University of Waikato, and now teaches and composes for Oclef – an online music ed tech company based in San Jose, California.
In 2024, he directed and conducted the Oclef Contemporary Music Festival which featured 16 pianists and members of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. January 2025, his suite of pieces called ‘Gods of the Pacific’ for Piano, Strings, Percussion and Choir will be premiered in California.
Ludwig holds a Doctorate of Music from Florida State University, where he studied under Dr. Read Gainsford. He was a finalist for the Beethoven International Piano Sonata Competition in Memphis, Tennessee (2009) as well as the Florida State Music School Chopin Competition (2010). Before his studies in Florida, Ludwig held a scholarship as a Māori/Pacific Island scholar to complete his master’s degree at the University of Auckland under Dr. Rae de Lisle.
Ludwig has performed in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Tonga, Japan, Florida, and has appeared with the Hutt Valley Symphony, Wellington Youth, and Taranaki Symphony Orchestras. His other collaborations include performing with NZ School of Dance, TVNZ, The Shades, and Sol3Mio.