A Dunedin performer is encouraging audiences to pull on their evening gloves and give opera a go this weekend.
Baritone Robert Tucker, who grew up and studied in Dunedin, said he was looking forward to performing for a southern crowd.
Based on Jane Austen’s 1814 Regency-era novel of the same name, the opera was performed in Wellington and Auckland last year, before making its South Island debut in Christchurch earlier this week.
Tucker, who played Sir Thomas Bertram, said the opera was a fairly faithful adaptation of the book and follows young Fanny Price, a poor but pin-sharp girl who is head over heels for her cousin Edmund.
Mansfield Park was performed in English and was a very accessible opera — and he encouraged people to "give it a go".
"The pace of the opera is quite fast-paced, so things are always happening.
"It has a lovely mix between quite funny comic moments and very poignant and emotional moments as well, and the music reflects that as well.
"There’s very jazzy styles, there’s very choral styles and everything in between."
Most of last year’s cast had returned for the southern performances and were "a real lovely mix" of seasoned and young performers.
After graduating from the University of Otago, Tucker spent time working in Australia and the United Kingdom before returning to New Zealand in 2012 on stage, in the concert hall and as a singing teacher and conductor.
He said he loved performing in Dunedin.
"I’ve never performed in Hanover Hall. I’ve sung there in some rehearsals, but that’ll be a new experience for me."
