Katie Trigg on the Te Awamutu Light Operatic Society stage for 2013's Fiddler on the Roof. Photo / Supplied
Katie Trigg on the Te Awamutu Light Operatic Society stage for 2013's Fiddler on the Roof. Photo / Supplied
We first met Katie Trigg when she was a Ngāhinapōuri School student with a passion and talent for singing.
Now this young woman has graduated from the University of Waikato and won a coveted place in the Curtis Institute of Music - one of America's most prestigious and selective facilities in the next step to achieve her goal of becoming a professional opera singer.
Katie started taking singing lessons with Angela Petris at the age of 8 – shortly after seeing a movie which featured a busker and she decided she wanted to be the same.
"I liked singing and I liked money, so I convinced my mum to let me busk while she was at the supermarket," says Katie.
Katie Trigg performing in the Te Awamutu Competitions in 2007. Photo / Supplied
Katie started entering singing competitions and doing well, so she set her heart on a professional career.
Success kept coming and after high school the mezzo soprano took the next step and enrolled at the University of Waikato, where she was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar, graduating last year with her Bachelor of Music degree with first class honours.
For 2021 she has been a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Studio Artist with New Zealand Opera.
Katie says it has been wonderful to be coached by some of New Zealand's finest teachers and work alongside other great performers.
Covid proved a challenge for an artist who loves to perform.
Katie says a lot of work was done online and in recording studios, but it is not the same as being in front of an audience.
She says it was a bumpy period and she had to get in front of people to find the joy again.
Covid also made it difficult to move to the next stage of becoming a professional, and it prevented her attending one of the European institutes where she had been accepted.
The silver lining, as she believes the Curtis Institute of Music will serve her better, the American style better suiting her voice.
Katie applied for a number of positions and for some could only submit a video audition. She didn't get accepted to those.
But when she was invited to audition in person for Curtis, and a number of other American institutes, she worked hard to make it a reality.
That proved the difference, and Katie was able to choose where to attend.
"Curtis specialises in operatic and orchestral performance and is the perfect place to help me in my goal to become a professional opera singer," says Katie.
It is also the most selective institute, with an acceptance rate of just 4 per cent.
Mezzo Soprano Katie Trigg. Photo / Alan Goldsman
Katie auditioned amid the pandemic and among one of the most competitive applicant groups and was offered a full tuition scholarship for two years.
Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, students educated at Curtis receive the highest quality of teaching, and go on to lead globally in their profession.
"I will have personalised attention with their world-renowned faculty and celebrated visiting artists.
"I will be joining a community of musical peers which will challenge and inspire me, and connect to a network of distinguished alumni with international reach and a legacy that far surpasses its size."
Curtis alumni are regularly among the winners of the most prestigious awards and honours in the classical music world, including Pulitzer Prizes, Guggenheim Fellowships and Avery Fisher Awards. They sing with the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden and the Vienna Staatsoper, to name a few.
Leading orchestras, opera houses, and chamber music series around the world regularly feature Curtis alumni as guest artists.
It is exactly the opportunity Katie is looking for.
"I feel incredibly privileged, and somewhat humbled, to have been given this fantastic opportunity for an international career," says Katie.
She can hardly believe it is happening to her, that she is on the way to a professional career, making her living and her life as a singer.
"It is exciting and daunting," she says.
Her studies begin next month, and while she has a highly valuable tuition scholarship, plus some help with living expenses, Katie will also need to raise funds for travel and living expenses.
While in America she will hold a student visa, and cannot work at all.
Katie has been holding a series of small concerts to help raise funds, culminating with her Finally, Farewell concert on Wednesday, August 3 at Hamilton's Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, accompanied by Francis Cowan. She leaves for the US a week later.
The Rotary Club of Fairfield Charitable Trust is assisting, taking donations on her behalf and they have also set up a Givealittle page "Katie Goes to Curtis!" – all contributions eligible for tax credits.
Concert tickets are $25 from trybooking.com search Finally, Farewell.
