This weekend, to cap off the 50th instalment of Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori, RNZ Concert will broadcast Toiere, a collaborative production from NZ Opera and the Auckland Arts Festival which combines opera, waiata and the Māori language.
SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music will also be releasing a video of the concert.
Staged earlier this year, Toiere features opera arias by Bizet, Mozart, Rossini, Puccini - to name a few - with words translated by Pānia Papa (Ngāti Korokī-Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta), arranged by Robert Wiremu (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and directed by Kawiti Waetford (Ngāti Hine, Ngātiwai, Ngāti Rangi, and Ngāpuhi).
RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump spoke with Waetford - Manu Tū Rae / Strategic Māori Lead at NZ Opera - ahead of this weekend's broadcast of Toiere.
Kawiti Waetford performing in Toiere Photo: Auckland Arts Festival
Waetford says translating the original words (mostly in Italian and French) into Te Reo while keeping the original melodic line was a huge challenge, but he's proud of the results.
However, Toiere was more than a collection of popular arias sung in Māori. It also combined them with waiata and traditional haka, such as Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha's "Ka Mate", which is performed by Waetford himself.
Other singers in the show are soprano Katherine Winitana (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāariki Kaiputahi), tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, mezzo-soprano Elisha Fai-So’oialo and baritone Joel Amosa - all accompanied by pianist Juan Kim.
