Dunedin soprano juggles work and competitions
JUGGLING a 40hour working week with highprofile opera singing can be like playing musical chairs.
While most people were sitting down to a welldeserved lunch break yesterday, soprano Erica Paterson was leaping out of her office chair and racing to Burns Hall to compete in the Dunedin Performing Arts Competitions Society Senior Vocal Festival.
Then straight after work, she returned to Burns Hall to compete in another class of the festival.
‘‘It is a juggling act — it can be a bit tricky at times,’’ she said.
The 25yearold University of Otago music graduate works fulltime in the university’s physiology department as a teacher and postgraduate administrator, and has already had a busy week at work and on stage.
She was in the capital at the weekend, competing against 28 other opera singers from around the country in the Wellington Regional Aria Competition — one of the top singing competitions in the country.
She won the competition, singing Leonard Bernstein’s Glitter and be Gay and Dvorak’s Song to the Moon.
While she said the win was ‘‘fabulous’’, she was just as delighted about being able to perform again and catching up with other singing friends.
‘‘We’ve had such a deficit of performance opportunities and competitions recently because of Covid. So it was really lovely to be on stage again.
She is one of 25 singers vying for one of eight finalist’s spots in the ODT Southern Aria Competition on Saturday night.
After that, she will work towards defending her national title at the New Zealand Aria Competition, in November.