Soprano caps year of living diversely

Aivale Cole. Photo / Supplied.

Aivale Cole is convinced that winning last year's Lexus Song Quest turned her life around. The Wellington-born Samoan soprano had been taking part in the competition since 1996 when Andrea Creighton carried off the award.

"I'd been chasing that dream ever since that night," she sighs. "When I finally got there last year, and the judge, Siegfried Jerusalem, announced my name as best he could, I just thought, 'Thank goodness, finally'."

One of the highlights of that momentous night was working alongside the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. "Singing with an orchestra is always a real treat," says Cole. "My favourite composers are Strauss, Mozart and occasionally some Verdi, which is like putting my finger in the honey jar," she giggles. "That's not going to happen very often for me at the moment," she reflects, "I want to let my voice grow naturally without pushing for the big stuff."

Next Saturday Cole is back with the NZSO for a special Christmas concert and the soprano can look back over a year that is nothing if not diverse.

Sharing a stage with Moana and the Moahunters and NZTrio at July's Shanghai Expo was unforgettable on a number of counts, not all to do with the actual music being performed. Cole recalls trouble with a microphone under her dress not working, and a venue that was "big and boomy with sound that came back at you at a hundred miles an hour".

Within two weeks she was in Sydney performing at the Gala 80th birthday celebrations for Australian conductor Richard Bonynge.

"He was over the moon with the whole concert," says Cole. "He gave me a wink and when he came up on stage he said I had a glorious voice and must look after it."

The issue of caring for the voice is a recurrent theme of our conversation and her concerns extend to a new generation of young hopefuls.

"Up-and-coming singers listen to all these wonderful recordings by all the greats and don't realise that these people were in their 50s and 60s at the time," Cole warns. "The young ones are trying to reproduce that sound in their late teens and early 20s and that's dangerous."

Early this year, a select audience at Auckland's Mollies was privileged to hear Cole's Leontyne and Ella programme, a tribute to two favourite artists, soprano Leontyne Price and jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.

Doing her thing with a microphone isn't too much of a worry after cabaret experience with Christchurch jazz singer Malcolm McNeill in the 90s. "It's just a croon," she assures me, "I do the smooth ballady stuff which suits me, because you can harm your voice if you go into a belting thing."

Next Saturday, when she sings O Holy Night in Samoan, she will remember taking part in the late Iosefa Enari's Classical Polynesia spectacular at the 1998 International Arts Festival. She still calls Enari "the big boss" and recalls that coming together as "a wonderful chance to blend our western musical training with the Samoan music that we grew up with".

Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate will bring its own memories on Saturday too, as she first tackled it 15 years ago during student days.

"My voice has changed," she muses. "It's a lot bigger but I'm still pretty happy with getting around the runs. There's no way I could do it at the speed of Cecilia Bartoli but, hey, she can have that speed.

"I sing from the heart because I want to show and share with everyone else what music does for me. And when I'm singing Mozart's 'Rejoice and exult', I'm not going to just stand there. Everyone will see that I really mean it."

Performance

What: Christmas with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Aivale Cole

Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Saturday, December 11, at 7.30pm Aivale Cole will be singing with the NZSO in a special Christmas concert next Saturday.