Dunedin conductor Holly Mathieson has been announced as the new artistic director of the Christchurch-based Solid Energy Ensemble of Southern Opera and of the Southern Opera Chorus.
Mathieson is completing a PhD at the University of Otago but moved to Christchurch in December.
She has conducted the Southern Sinfonia, Southern Consort of Voices, the Southern Youth Choir, The Tudor Choristers and the St Kilda Brass Band as well as being musical director for the Opera Otago productions Cosi fan tutte and Salieri's Falstaff.
"I would love to see classical music breaking some boundaries in New Zealand. There are really exciting things happening overseas as composers, performers and listeners explore new concert formats, sounds and media," Mathieson says.
"I would like the ensemble to be a testing ground for expanding opera's horizons and simply celebrating the way the human voice can move us in a way unlike any other sound."
Mathieson's first Southern Opera engagement is Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, acting as assistant to conductor, Peter Walls.
The only Otago performance of Gianni Schicchi, directed by Mark Hadlow, is at 7.30pm in the Oamaru Opera House on Saturday, March 21.