Lexus winner returns

Soloist Bianca Andrew performs with Auckland Choral when the choir presents its annual Messiah this month.

When Auckland Choral presents its annual Messiah in just over a week, Bianca Andrew will be singing some of the oratorio's most powerful arias including "He was despised."

Four years ago, the young mezzo stole the show in Bach's Magnificat with the same musicians, delivering her "Et Exultavit" with an exuberance that brilliantly caught the utter joyousness of this score.

Since then, Andrew has won a Kiri Te Kanawa Scholarship at the 2014 Lexus Song Quest which opened the doors of London's Guildhall School; recent successes include a coveted Kathleen Ferrier Award in April.

She still remembers the thrill of Lexus night, not only for working with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra but, she says, also for performing to such a welcoming audience, all there to support young singers.

At first, London was overwhelming but Andrew soon acclimatised herself to the incredible amount of concerts, opera, visual arts and theatre on offer.

"But there are still times when I miss seeing the Wellington horizon," she sighs. "And having fresh air and a bit of steak."

Her initial university training at Wellington's New Zealand School of Music and Whanganui's New Zealand Opera School prepared her well for Britain but Kiwi singers also have the advantage of what she describes as a good attitude.

"We're known for giving anything a go and doing it in a positive, collegial way."

She says Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny, this year's Lexus judge, has been a very good fit for her as a teacher, allowing her to maintain her own voice.

"I didn't want a cookie-cutter generalised voice and Yvonne has helped me to strengthen technique and learn how to use my voice more and trust it, so it will carry all the emotion and communication it needs to."

The upcoming Messiah gives Aucklanders an overdue opportunity to experience Andrew; her recent New Zealand performances have been in other centres. In 2014, she sang Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with Orchestra Wellington as well as the composer's Second Symphony in Christchurch; in August, she took the trouser role of Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi for Days Bay Opera.

She speaks fondly of playing the bel canto hero in the domestic setting of Eastbourne's Canna House, a scaled-down approach echoing that of many smaller companies in the UK.

"We're always going to have big opera houses and companies," she points out. "But this new and affordable approach puts opera on a more intimate level."

Back in London, she's garnered good reviews as Philomene in Martinu's rarely performed Alexandre bis, in a Guildhall staging. The school favours lesser-known repertoire such as this, Stravinsky's Mavra and Julian Philip's new Chaucer opera with a libretto in Middle English.

For Andrew, participating in these productions means that music is approached from a neutral uninfluenced perspective.

"We can't consult recordings and DVDs but have to find our own way through it."

Yet Handel's Messiah, arguably the most celebrated oratorio of all time, has its own appeal.

"There's such a sense of humanity in this work," she says. "It's like looking at the same story through different prisms. I know people who have sung it 60 times and it's definitely a work that grows with you as you get older. I'm looking forward to having it in my life and seeing it change as those years go by."

What: Auckland Choral, Messiah
Where & when: Auckland Town Hall, December 19 and 20, 7.30pm