Italian soprano Nuccia Focile returns to NZ as opera school tutor

Nuccia Focile is delighted to be back in New Zealand, this time as a tutor at the New Zealand Opera School.

Acclaimed Italian soprano Nuccia Focile is delighted to be back in New Zealand, this time as a tutor at the New Zealand Opera School at Whanganui Collegiate School.

"I loved being in New Zealand when I was performing here on tours but now to be teaching is very special to me."

A vocal coach at the Royal School of Music in London, Focile said teaching young singers was a joy.

Born in Sicily, she had planned to be a concert pianist and was studying at the Torino Conservatorium in the north of Italy.

As well as her piano studies she sang with the school's choral group every week.

"At one of the choral practices the choir master took me aside and said I should be singing … from then on I was trained as a singer."

From her early twenties she was singing in major operas throughout Italy then on to the world's opera stages.

Her most abiding memory from her opera beginnings was winning a competition for young singers organised by the world's leading tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

A mentor, friend and man she will never forget, she said.

He cast her as Mimi opposite him singing Rodolfo in La Boheme with the Philadelphia Opera Company.

"It was my proudest moment. I cherish it today. It felt like a dream. He was so wonderful to be on stage with. He made sure I was feeling comfortable and went out of his way to support me so I would give my best and I did."

From the United States Focile accepted an offer to sing in Falstaff with the Cardiff Opera Company in Wales which was taken on a worldwide tour.

"When I returned to Cardiff I loved it so much I stayed and in 2011 started teaching at the Cardiff Music Academy with the acclaimed vocal coach Dennis O'Neill. They were very happy years.''

From Cardiff Focile then took up a position at the Royal Music School in London as a vocal coach.

Often when she is teaching, her husband David Burgess, a surveyor who is at the school with her, sits in on her lessons in the Collegiate auditorium.

"He loves music and enjoys hearing how the students improve during their lessons," Focile said.

And Focile still frequently takes over the piano when she is coaching.

"I love to play and believe that my piano training helped with my singing in the early years because I could read music and understood it well."

• On Monday, January 13 Focile will be taking a public Master Class in the Collegiate auditorium starting at 7.30pm.