“The gallery feels very fortunate to be able to help stage a concert with these two young artists as they prepare to take their talents to the world.”
Donald Trott ONZM, the NZOS executive chairman and director, said A Celebration of Music would be an event not to be missed.
“Sid Chand, a rising young tenor, who is on his way to an international career like a number of NZ Opera School alumni, will delight the audience with his rich, warm tenor voice. Ben Kubiak, an extraordinarily gifted pianist, excels as a repetiteur and also a fine singer. Such pianists require a very special talent. The duo are both charming and charismatic. They will perform well-known arias and songs intertwined with stories and anecdotes.”
Chand, 24, said a career in music was never further from his mind when he joined the school choir and took singing lessons in his first year of high school.
“When I was younger, there was no music in my family, but my mother said, ‘I want you to take singing lessons’.”
Chand thinks she may have heard him singing Frank Sinatra songs around the house.
“I said, ‘Absolutely not’, but then she told me again and I was like, ‘Well, I know what happens if I say no the second time’, so I did and I just fell in love with music. It snowballed from there.”
Opera chose him, he said. He studied music at university, after trialling law for two weeks, and began focusing more on solo singing, which led him to three successive years attending the New Zealand Opera School.
“My first year at the Opera School really defined me as an opera singer. It really made me want to work, to work hard, and from then on, I feel like I really improved as a singer and as an artist. I love the music and I love how it makes me feel, being able to sing and perform in front of people.
“Whanganui is such a great place. I think it is only right that in the place that has fostered my music and my [growth] as an artist, we get to celebrate some music together. If it wasn’t for Whanganui, and if it wasn’t for Donald Trott and the Opera School, I definitely would not have been in a position to go overseas now.”
He and Kubiak are friends.
“We make fun of each other constantly, but Ben is a legitimate genius. I’m honoured to have him in my corner, and I’m grateful to be in his corner as well. Whenever we do make music together, it’s special.”
After the Sarjeant on Pukenamu Queen’s Park opens in 2024, he is eager to come back to sing in the redeveloped building.
And what of his plans for his future career in opera?
“I’ll have a better idea of what my life trajectory is after this next year. When I’m over at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, I’ll have a good idea of what I want to do, but who knows what will happen? I just want to throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. From there, I’ll make the right decision for me. And I think that that’s the best thing you can do.”
Musicians for the Sarjeant event
What: Thank you, Whanganui! A Celebration of Music with Sid Chand and Ben Kubiak
Venue: Whanganui Memorial Centre Concert Chamber, Watt St
Date: Saturday, July 29, 1-2pm
Tickets: $25 plus booking fee. Tickets at the i-Site and iTicket.co.nz, plus limited door sales
Presented by the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui.
