Dunedin opera singer Calla Knudson lost a very close friend last year, and while it was a traumatic event, she has credited it with helping her to win a major study scholarship.
The 26-year-old soprano finished her music degree several years ago, but circumstances prompted her to step away from the competitive environment of becoming a fully fledged professional singer.
Instead, she got a job working as a funding and resource co-ordinator at Otepoti Collective Against Sexual Abuse.
The work was interesting and rewarding, but when her friend and supporter died, she decided she had to return to music.
"It made me really reflect on what I wanted to do, especially over the next five years.
"I thought I just needed to give music everything.
"He was incredibly supportive of my music and it’s out of respect for him that I’m pursuing it."
Ms Knudson is now completing her bachelor of music honours degree in performance voice and music production, and her decision to return to her passion looks to be paying off.
She has just won the Christchurch Dame Malvina Major Foundation South Island Arts Excellence Award, worth $5000, which will help her continue her music study.
She said she planned to use the money to do a masters degree in singing, while studying the Italian and German languages next year.
Much of the opera repertoire was in Italian or German, so "you need to be able to speak it in order to sing it", she said.
She planned to do the study either at the University of Otago, or at a music school in the United Kingdom — or maybe even both.
"I’ve got options at the moment. I’m still deciding."
One thing is for certain — she wants to pursue a career as a professional opera singer.
