LAWRENCE GULLERY
His first performance was in Bugsy Malone at high school, but on Sunday, Hawke's Bay's Piri Broughton will sing in front of thousands of netball fans when the Silver Ferns play Australia.
The 27-year-old tenor, who grew up in Norsewood, said he'll be putting pride first when he steps
up to sing New Zealand's national anthem at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
"You've just got to put yourself in the right frame of mind and know what you're doing, be prepared," Piri said. "It's pride more than anything else and that's what I use to prepare."
Piri, who began his formal voice training at the Eastern Institute of Technology, said he had received messages of good luck from friends telling him not to "muck up" the Maori verses.
And it was his status as a Maori singer which favoured his selection ahead of others as organisers looked for a suitable candidate to deliver the national anthem.
"They lack people who can sing the Maori [verses], they had put their feelers out and came to me through Opera Queensland," Piri said.
He is now based in Australia and makes a living as a singer/teacher at private singing and dance schools through Opera Queensland in Brisbane.
He aims to travel and perform in Europe in the next few years, but this week he's focused on a special occasion he wants to share with family.
"This is my first time singing the anthem [at an international event] so I am quite nervous but it should be very exciting," Piri said.
"My family are coming across just to see me sing and try to cash in on some of my free tickets."
Piri said his immediate family was just "me and my mum". But he had an extended family who were sporty people and loved watching the netball "which is why they're after my free tickets".
He clearly remembers his time growing up in southern Hawke's Bay.
"I remember going to college at Dannevirke High School singing in my very first production called Bugsy Malone ... that would have been in 1997. That's where it all started for me."
After EIT, Piri went on to study a Bachelor of Music at the Conservatorium of Music, Massey University. In 2005 he moved to Brisbane, where he was accepted into the Post Graduate Diploma of Music (Majoring in Opera Performance) at the Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University.
Piri is a member of the Opera Queensland Company and is singing in its current production, Puccini's Turandot.
LAWRENCE GULLERY
His first performance was in Bugsy Malone at high school, but on Sunday, Hawke's Bay's Piri Broughton will sing in front of thousands of netball fans when the Silver Ferns play Australia.
The 27-year-old tenor, who grew up in Norsewood, said he'll be putting pride first when he steps
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