Toi Toi Opera, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch (2026)

02/04/2026

We are over the moon to let you know that tickets are now on sale for our highly anticipated new production of Lehár's timeless operetta The Merry Widow - Toi Toi Opera! Directed by Julian Anderson, and with Musical Direction and Arrangement by Jeremy Woodside. ❤️

It's the ultimate 'will-they, won't-they' romance, wrapped up in a glittering world of Parisian parties, secret affairs, and laugh-out-loud comedy, and jam-packed with all those irresistible melodies you know and love. Plus, if you fancy being whisked off your feet by a special someone, you'll even have a chance to join in the dancing. 💃

Bubbly, elegant, and just a little bit scandalous, this is a joyful and enchanting evening that's guaranteed to leave you humming, so snap up your seats today! 🍾🥂

⏰ 24 & 25 July, 7.30-9.30pm
📍 The Tannery, Christchurch
🎫 https://events.humanitix.com/the-merry-widow

16/03/2026

Ahiahi mārie! This lovely crew had the delight of kicking off what is promising to be a huge year ahead for the company with a sold out lunchtime concert of glorious Puccini & Pucciniana this afternoon in the gorgeous surrounds of the Great Hall - a huge thank you to the Concerts for Christchurch Foundation Trust for the invitation to perform as part of your very special concert series, and also to our very warm and generous audience for your beautiful support. We can’t wait to see you all again soon! 💕🎶💐

06/03/2026

BOOK NOW Great Hall Lunchtime Concerts: Toi Toi Opera! 🤍🖤

Ahiahi mārie! We are thrilled to announce the extraordinary line-up of emerging artists who'll be joining company co-directors Alex Robinson (baritone) and Katherine Doig (soprano), and Head of Music Jeremy Woodside (piano), for the first of our beautiful events this year, our Toi Toi Opera Great Hall Lunchtime Concert on Monday 16 March! 🎶

It's a joy to welcome back to the Toi Toi stage the very wonderful Kahu Gray (bass), Erin Connelly-Whyte (soprano), and David Moseley (tenor), and to introduce two new faces, Alannah Hounsome-Vail (soprano) and Alexandra Hope Watson (soprano). ❤️

All of these exceptional young artists will be featuring in our exciting upcoming opera seasons, but first - let them bring you a fabulous feast of Puccini and Pucciniana in your lunch hour. 💃

Featuring arias from La bohème, Suor Angelica, Turandot, Gianni Schicchi, Tosca, La rondine, Edgar - and much much more - and with tickets ranging from just $5-$20, this is a gorgeous afternoon of opera you cannot afford to miss! We can’t wait to see you there! 🥳

🗓️ Monday 16 March, 1.10pm – 1.50pm
📍Great Hall The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora
🎫 https://www.artscentre.org.nz/whats-on/toi-toi-opera/

13/02/2026

BOOK NOW! 🤍🖤

Mōrena! We are thrilled to announce that tickets are now on sale for the first of our beautiful events this year, our Toi Toi Opera Great Hall Lunchtime Concert on Monday 16 March! 🎶

Fancy a wee lunchtime treat of opera highlights brought to you by a team of the company’s finest singers, and accompanied by our brilliant Head of Music Jeremy Woodside at the piano? OF COURSE you do! 💃

With tickets ranging from just $5-$20, this is a gorgeous afternoon of opera you cannot afford to miss! We can’t wait to see you there! 🥳

🗓️ Monday 16 March, 1.10pm – 1.50pm
📍Great Hall The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora
🎫 https://www.artscentre.org.nz/whats-on/toi-toi-opera/

03/02/2026

It’s February already, but we still can’t resist saying a big Kā mihi o te tau hou - Happy New Year - from all of us at Toi Toi Opera! We hope yours is off to a flying start! 🤍

The company’s general audition day is this Saturday at The Piano, and our panel is in for an absolute treat - just shy of 60 singers have put their hats in the ring to be a part of this season’s programme. 🎶

If you’re amongst our auditionees this weekend - thank you so much for generously sharing your time and talent with us, we can’t wait to see and hear you shine in the room - and hopefully on our stage too! ✨

11/12/2025

LAST CALL GENERAL AUDITIONS - Toi Toi Opera

Audition registrations have been very heavy this round, and there are only a handful of in-person audition appointments remaining for February 7! Singers, if you'd like to work with us in 2026-2027, please make sure you submit your audition registration via toitoiopera.com by 1 January 2026, late registrations will not be accepted. We can't wait to see and hear you all! 🖤🤍

01/12/2025

GENERAL AUDITION NOTICE - Toi Toi Opera

Saturday 7 February 2026, 9.30am to 6pm - The Piano, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch

Seeking professional and emerging opera singers for paid roles and chorus work in our upcoming 2026 and 2027 opera seasons in Ōtautahi Christchurch, and strong soloists for a variety of concert opportunities in Waitaha Canterbury.

Our programming aims to highlight and celebrate the region's rich operatic vocal talent. The three operas all require large and diverse casts encompassing all ages (18+) and voice-types, including character roles, all will be sung in English; we also require several strong soloists of different voice-types for our concert series.

Nothing is pre-cast, meaning everything is up for grabs - but only to those who audition! To secure your audition, head over to our website - you'll find the booking link right there:

toitoiopera.com

(Adults only please, 18+ years; you must be a NZ citizen or have an existing right to work in NZ to apply.)

23/11/2025

Toi Toi Opera's 2026-2027 season has landed and it's absolutely bursting with fun, fairytale, and fantasy - it really doesn't get much more delicious than this for opera lovers! We can't wait! 🖤

Singers mark your diaries - auditions for all roles, chorus, and soloist work are on Saturday 7th February 2026 in Ōtautahi Christchurch (audition booking form will be live from 1 December on toitoiopera.com).

See you soon!

22/11/2025

We hope you’re all having a lovely weekend! Did you attend our Toi Toi Opera Masterclass with Jonathan Lemalu at The Piano, Christchurch on Monday night?! We think it was pretty wonderful, how about you?! 💕

How brilliant to see Jonathan work his magic one on one with these five extraordinary young talents! We hope that you were also fortunate enough to catch Jonathan’s exquisite ‘Seasons’ concert on Wednesday with pianist Kathryn Mosley, alongside these lucky singers who Jonathan also enabled to attend. 🤗

Our huge thanks once again to Jonathan for so generously donating his time and invaluable expertise, to Alison Holden for her lovely accompanying, and to the The Piano’s Emerging Artist Fund for enabling the use of their incomparable venue. Thanks to our large and receptive audience, and to those who were able to make a donation for their seat - helping to ensure more beautiful opportunities like these for our singers and audiences. 🎶

📸 Left to right: Erin Connelly-Whyte, Kahu Gray, Jonathan Lemalu, Stephen Moseley, Elizabeth Ellison, and Holly Evans. Photograph ©️Toi Toi Opera 2025

16/11/2025

The final of the five incredibly talented young Canterbury singers who will be appearing in our Toi Toi Opera Masterclass with Jonathan Lemalu at The Piano, Christchurch this evening from 7pm is stunning Ashburton born and bred soprano Erin Connelly-Whyte, currently based in Dunedin. Pictured here bringing the house down with her brilliant performance of Lehár's 'Meine Lippen' during our 'Serenade to Music' celebration in August this year, tonight she'll be singing some heavenly Puccini and Richard Strauss for Jonathan.

Erin holds a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours, completed under the supervision of Dr. Tessa Romano, and a Bachelor of Science majoring in Anatomy from the University of Otago. She is an active performer and competitor, regularly travelling across Aotearoa to appear in concerts, productions, and aria competitions. In 2023, she was honoured to be the guest performer at the University of Otago’s December Graduation Ceremonies.

Her recent accolades include First Prize in the 2024 Otago Daily Times Southern Aria Final, recipient of the 2024 Ida G. White Music Prize, 2023 Colin and Alison Crampton Music Scholarship, and 2022 Graham Gunn Scholarship, a finalist in the 2025 Nicholas Tarling Aria Competition, and the ‘Most Promising Singer’ award at the 2022 Christchurch Aria Finals.

Recent performance highlights include the role of Cathleen for Toi Toi Opera's 2025 season of Vaughan Williams' 'Riders to the Sea', guest soloist appearances in Toi Toi Opera's 'Serenade to Music' and 'Public Masterclass with Patrick Power ONZM' in 2025, the Central Otago Regional Choir, Ashburton MSA Men’s Choir’s ANZAC Day Concert, Dunedin Children’s Choir Christmas Concert, Dunedin RSA Choir’s 'Toward the Light', City Choir Dunedin’s 'Eastertide' Concert, Southern Consort of Voices 'Magnetic South' concert, and Opera Otago’s 'ChorusFest'.

She has also performed in the Isaac Theatre Royal’s 10th Anniversary Gala, and as a chorus member in New Zealand Opera’s 'La Bohème' (2025) and 'Le comte Ory' (2024). Erin has been a regular contributor to the University of Otago’s Lunchtime Concert Series (2022–2025), and featured in Opera Otago’s 'Miss Brill' (2022), 'Chorus Concert' (2023), and 'Potluck: an Operatic Feast' (2025), as well as Musical Theatre Dunedin’s 'Les Misérables' (2021).

In addition to performing, Erin is passionate about vocal education. She works as a vocal coach at The Voice Lab NZ and Saturday Morning Music Classes (SMMC) Otago, where she enjoys nurturing the voices of students of all ages.

⏰ Monday 17th November, 7-9pm (TONIGHT!)
📍 The Piano, Christchurch
🎫 https://events.humanitix.com/toitoiopera-masterclass

Click the link and secure your free seat. Your donation/koha is appreciated, with all proceeds going to Toi Toi Opera and The Piano's Emerging Artist Fund, so that we can bring more fabulous opportunities like these to our singers and audiences.

📸 Jeremy Woodside and Erin Connelly-Whyte perform at Toi Toi Opera's 'Serenade to Music'; Photograph © Gary Easterbrook for Toi Toi Opera, 2025

15/11/2025

The fourth of the five wonderful young singers who will be appearing in our Toi Toi Opera Masterclass with Jonathan Lemalu at The Piano, Christchurch tomorrow evening (Monday) from 7pm is powerhouse tenor and brass player Steven Moseley, who'll be singing some Donizetti and Schubert for Jonathan. We absolutely can't wait!

Steven is pictured here (left) singing 'The Pearl Fishers Duet' alongside his brother David during our opera highlights performances at The Arts Centre's Off Centre Festival in March 2023, and we've also been lucky to have him sing for the company as part of our 'Spring into Music' performances for Music Canterbury.

A current member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus, Steven was also NZO's Pettman Dare Fellow for 2023/2024, enabling him to work in the UK with Opera North and study at the University of Leeds. A trained teacher, Steven is currently loving sharing his passion for music with the lucky students at Te Ara Koropiko West Spreydon Primary.

⏰ Monday 17th November, 7-9pm
📍 The Piano, Christchurch
🎫 https://events.humanitix.com/toitoiopera-masterclass

Click the link and secure your free seat. Your donation/koha is appreciated, with all proceeds going to Toi Toi Opera and The Piano's Emerging Artist Fund, so that we can bring more fabulous opportunities like these to our singers and audiences.

📸 Photograph © Charlie Rose Creative for The Arts Centre Te Matataki Toi Ora, 2023

Toi Toi Opera

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