Cup divas team up for charity concert

A pair of Rugby World Cup-singing divas will unite for a benefit concert at Holy Trinity Church in Tauranga early next month.

Local sopranos Sharon Cotter and Anna Hawkins will sing in tandem for the very first time to help raise money for Waipuna Hospice.

The singing stars agreed to waive their performance fees for the Two Divas charity concert, which means that every dollar raised will go straight to the hospice.

Welsh-born Sharon, whose most recent singing engagement was singing the Welsh national anthem at the World Cup, said singing to raise money for Waipuna was a worthy cause.

"I know what they do is an extraordinary job, I'm in total awe of what they do. It's all for a good cause. It's going to be fun, I'm looking forward to it," she said.

It will be her first concert in a while but she said she was excited about teaming up with Anna.

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Sharon Cotter

Anna Hawkins

"This [concert] is going to be nice - it's just me and Anna doing our thing. We're going to throw quite a variety of genres in there," she said.

Anna, who also sang at the World Cup, agreed with her fellow songstress: "It's going to be a mixture of songs but they kind of complement each other. It's a beautiful venue and it's exciting to be singing alongside Sharon," she said.

The performance will include elements of classical, contemporary, musical theatre and Christmas songs and will be about two hours long.

The pair only recently met but immediately hit it off, hospice fundraising manager Trish Rae said.

"Very quickly they established a warm rapport, which just bodes well for a great performance. It was wonderful to see them hit it off," she said.

Ticket sales from the concert go toward the hospice's operating costs. This year they need to raise $1.5 million over and above their government funding to meet the shortfall in operating costs.

Tickets can be purchased from Waipuna Hospice, Holy Trinity on Devonport Rd, Creative Tauranga, Oceanshores in Mt Maunganui; Western Bay District Council area offices in Katikati and Te Puke or online at www.waipuna-hospice.co.nz  Adults $25, children $12 (16 years and under).