Deborah Wai Kapohe at Opera in the Pa.
Thirty-one days out from the centenary of the Gallipoli landing, Rotorua's had a foretaste of the ceremonies that are to come marking that most significant of dates in New Zealand's nationhood.
It wasn't at a cenotaph or in a war cemetery but at Te Puia's Rotowhio Marae where Opera in
the Pa 2015 was staged specifically as a tribute to World War I's Pioneer Maori Battalion with a wee tilt at the Maori Battalion which fought so valiantly in the second.
How better to salute their bravery and that of all Anzacs than with five fine operatic voices raised in homage.
As the Rev Tom Poata said in his opening karakia (prayer), "We give thanks to those who tonight lift their voices to the heavens"; lift them these versatile performers did.
The programme was a finely-tuned balancing act between the wartime tributes (the Last Post included) and a repertoire of Rossini, Wagner, Handel and Bizet's better known arias.
