Taupō Midday Concert: Fergus Byett and Isabella Reid join forces for classical concert

Waikato Herald

4 Apr, 2024 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Fergus Byett will perform a range of classics alongside Isabella Reid.

Waikato musicians Fergus Byett and Isabella Reid are going to perform a classical concert in Taupō next week.

Byett, of Taupō, will return to play at the St Andrew’s Midday Concert on April 12, joined by musical colleague and vocalist, Isabella Reid.

The pair have impressive musical credentials: both were winners in the postgraduate and undergraduate Bach Competitions respectively at the University of Waikato last year.

This led to them pairing up for a combined concert in Auckland and Taupō.

Reid’s specialities are classical and choral music, as well as musical theatre. At the age of 12, she was accepted into the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir, where she sang for six years.

Last year, she started a new journey in the New Zealand Youth Choir and will be continuing her third year of university doing a Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance as a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar.

Reid also uses her musical talents in the community. She is a member of the Waikato Youth Choir and sings regularly in rest homes and churches.

She is a choir assistant at Tron Songsters, a children’s choir in Hamilton and teaches piano and voice.

Reid’s recent accolades include the Most Promising Under 21 Singer award at the New Zealand Aria 2023, where she also placed third in the NZ Aria under 21 award and received the Mona Ross Award for adjudicator’s choice of the best singer under 21 in the senior vocal.

Byett moved from Taupō to Hamilton in 2019 to study Classical Performance (Piano) at the University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music.

He gained first-class honours under the tutelage of Katherine Austin, and in 2023 he completed his Masters under Dr Rae de Lisle.

In 2023, he won the Concerto Competition, Bach Competition and Chamber Music Competition at the University of Waikato, as well as both Concerto and Recital classes at Hamilton Competitions.

Byett’s choral and instrumental compositions have won national competitions, including the Compose Aotearoa! Competition and the OCT Composition Competition.

He is currently a 2024 Young Composer in Residence with the Auckland Youth Choir and a founding Artistic Director of the Waikato Youth Choir.

Byett plays the organ for the St Peter’s Cathedral Singers in Hamilton, and he also sings with the St Peter’s Cathedral Choir.

The pair will perform a combination of musical items at the April 12 concert, including Estampes by Claude Debussy, Ave Maria by Gomez, Frédéric Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp Major and Die Mainacht by Johannes Brahms.