"It was a very difficult choice for Amanda Atlas (the adjudicator) on both the preliminary round and the final."
The six finalists were treated to a master class with Atlas on Sunday morning, and Hopson said what the performers learnt in the two hour session showed brilliantly on the final night.
The Compere for the final night was Lynda Pipe , who gave the audience brief descriptions of the arias they were about to hear.
The singers were accompanied pianists Catherine Norton from Wellington and Amy Chang from Auckland.
The Aria competition was held as part of the Easter Performing Arts Competitions Festival, a five day event, which kicked off on Thursday, April 18, and ended on Monday, April 22.
The festival show cases ballet, tap, jazz dancing, senior vocal, aria, junior vocal, instrumental and speech.
It gives performers from across New Zealand an opportunity to perform in front of an audience and also offers scholarships.
