Project Prima Volta students perform at MTG Napier

SOUNDBITE: Anna Pierard of Project Prima Volta, introduces graduate of PPV Taylor Wallbank, Hastings, before he sings at MTG Napier in preparation for music school auditions.

Music-lovers who wanted a lunchtime treat yesterday took the opportunity to see some of Hawke's Bay's top young musical talent before the students headed off to audition for New Zealand's top music schools.

Soundbites, featuring the students of Project Prima Volta, is a series of half-hour lunchtime concerts until Friday in the foyer of MTG Hawke's Bay.

Each year Project Prima Volta (PPV) offers up to 30 teenagers coaching and mentoring in music and performance, developing their talent and confidence.

Each annual intake is involved in supporting roles in a fully staged classical opera in the Art Deco Festival the following February.

PPV, run by Prima Volta Charitable Trust, is the youth initiative of Festival Opera, which stages this opera production each year.

The trust is helping to support their ambition by working with MTG to provide a special platform in the heart of Napier, said trust co-founder Anna Pierard.

"Soundbites is essentially a chance to exchange the monotony of a weekday lunch hour for a series of 30-minute celebrations of young talent and the transformative power of music, dropped into the day, as if from above."

• Soundbites, 12.15pm to 12.45pm until Friday, August 18. Entry by koha. No bookings required.