Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

From poems to arias: Rising mezzo Cadence Chung making her mark

Whanganui Chronicle
14 Jan, 2026 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Cadence Chung is one of the talents at this year's New Zealand Opera School. Photo / Karen Hughes

Cadence Chung is one of the talents at this year's New Zealand Opera School. Photo / Karen Hughes

Wellington has always been home for Cadence Chung until this year, when she was selected to study her Masters at TANZOS, the opera studio at the University of Waikato.

The mezzo-soprano is in Whanganui this week attending the New Zealand Opera School.

In Wellington she has a part-time job as an announcer for the Concert programme, where her boss Clarissa Dunn heard her and decided her voice was perfect for radio.

Music was Chung’s great love as a child, from singing all day to wanting to play an instrument.

“My mother was amazing, she got me taught piano and when the teacher said I should have singing lessons, my mum drove me miles across town to a singing teacher every week,” she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To add to her talents, Chung writes poetry and her book Mad Diva, a collection of her poems, was published last year.

Her mezzo-soprano voice has gained her many accolades already.

Opera is her chosen path and she hopes to go to Germany and be accepted into a young artists programme as an intern.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Chung is an active concert singer and has performed in the choruses of NZ Opera, Wellington Opera, Days Bay Opera and Wellington Comic Opera, as well as many of her original theatrical and concert productions.

“Music is absolutely my life.”

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Community Foundation appoints new chief executive

26 Jan 04:00 PM
Premium
OpinionKevin Page

Kevin Page: A case of do as I say, not as I do for the Salad Sisterhood

26 Jan 03:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Collegiate School announce new headmaster

26 Jan 02:42 AM

Sponsored

Discover Australia with AAT Kings’ easy-going guided holidays 

15 Jan 12:33 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Community Foundation appoints new chief executive
Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Community Foundation appoints new chief executive

'Coming from local government to be working in a foundation space is really exciting.'

26 Jan 04:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Kevin Page: A case of do as I say, not as I do for the Salad Sisterhood
Kevin Page
OpinionKevin Page

Kevin Page: A case of do as I say, not as I do for the Salad Sisterhood

26 Jan 03:00 PM
Whanganui Collegiate School announce new headmaster
Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Collegiate School announce new headmaster

26 Jan 02:42 AM


Discover Australia with AAT Kings’ easy-going guided holidays 
Sponsored

Discover Australia with AAT Kings’ easy-going guided holidays 

15 Jan 12:33 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2026 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP