That night was one he’d rather forget.
The-then 18-year-old was singing at a Queenstown Memorial Centre competition, and he forgot his words.
Unsurprisingly, the judges gave him the bullet, ingloriously exiting a talent who went on to become the most successful bass-baritone New Zealand’s delivered to international stages.
Lemalu, now based in the UK, is returning here next month to perform in a concert presented by the Arrowtown Creative Arts Society (ACAS), which convinced him to squeeze in a performance during a three-city NZ tour.
Born in Dunedin after his Samoan parents immigrated to take up a promised woollen mill position, Lemalu was trained by highly-regarded voice tutor Honor McKellar while completing a law degree at Otago Uni, which led him to the Queenstown competition.
He’s recently completed a season starring with the English National Opera (Mozart’s Magic Flute) in London — he recalls it was also Mozart which unstuck him in his resort debut.
Having chosen a Mozart aria, sung in its original German, he remembers staring at the ceiling lights, "which were in a rather hypnotic grid shape — the last thing I should have been doing".
"I got to the second or third verse, and realised I was just repeating the last one.
"I panicked and couldn’t find my way out of it.
"So I just sang on with the wrong verses hoping nobody would notice.
"They did, of course.
"The judges had the words and music sitting in front of them."
His subsequent stellar career means he can at least half-smile at that memory, having gone on to perform in opera houses including London’s Royal Opera, the New York Met, in Bayerische, Sydney, Glyndebourne and Chicago, and in mass events like Saltzburg and the BBC Proms.
He’s also collected bucketloads of awards along the way, such as a Sister Mary Leo scholarship, following in Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s footsteps, a Mobil Song Quest, London’s noted Kathleen Ferrier Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist and, more recently, the record industry’s best opera Grammy for his part in Billy Budd.
ACAS chair Paul Rea says they’re "incredibly lucky" to entice him to Arrowtown, noting the pre-sales have been "very strong".
"Jonathan’s chosen a programme that will be part classic opera, and part the big voice show tunes everyone loves.
"It will definitely be a night to remember.”
‘An Evening with Jonathan Lemalu’ is being held on Friday, July 12 at The Lodge at the Arrowtown Lifestyle Village.
Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start — tickets cost $70 for ACAS members or $90 general public, via Eventfinda and Arrowtown Lifestyle Village.
