Soprano Erin Connelly-Whyte will appear with the MSA Men’s Choir and MSA Orchestra during a free Anzac Day concert.
It will be held in the MSA social hall on April 25 at 2pm.
The concert will feature a mix of traditional and wartime favourites.
Choir member Jim Lischner said there will also be singalongs as the 20-strong choir members and 15 member orchestra pull out all the stops to entertain
It was guaranteed to be a toetapping event.
He said Connelly-Whyte, a former alumna of Ashburton College, was well-versed in Vera Lynn style singing. Lynn was a popular performer during World War 2.
Connelly-Whyte is a graduate of Otago University, where she earned a Bachelor of Music with first class honours under the supervision of Dr Tess Romano.
In December 2023 she graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Classical Voice Performance) and a Bachelor of Science (Anatomy), also from Otago.
She was notably then invited to be the guest performer at the university’s graduation ceremonies.
Her most recent success was winning the Otago Daily Times Southern Aria Final in 2024 against talent from New Zealand and Australia, and highlights included appearing as a guest soloist for Dunedin RSA Choir’s ‘Toward the Light Concert, Opera Otago’s ChorusFest (2024), appearing in the Isaac Theatre Royal’s 10th anniversary gala (2024) and as a chorus member in the New Zealand Opera’s Le Comte Ory (2024).
This year she will be a returning chorus member for New Zealand Opera’s season of Puccini’s La Boheme and the University of Otago’s lunchtime concert series.
Connelly-Whyte is no stranger to the stage, having performed in Musical Theatre Dunedin’s 2021 production of Les Mise ´rables.
She has also had solos from other staged shows such as Sweeney Todd (2017), Waitress (2018), Hello Dolly (2019), Les Miserables (2020), and Beauty and the Beast (2021).
Connelly-Whyte was the 2023 recipient of the Colin and Alison Crampton Music Scholarship, the 2022 recipient of Advance Ashburton’s Graham Gunn Music Scholarship and in 2020 one of Mid Canterbury Summer Singing School’s Scholarship winners.
– The MSA Men’s Choir and MSA Orchestra free Anzac Day concert in the MSA social hall on April 25 at 2pm. All welcome.
