Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 8, 1 August 2004 — Hawaiian aliʻi, vocalists part of opera's long [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian aliʻi, vocalists part of opera's long

By Derek Ferrar When you think of great Hawaiian vocalists, opera might not be the first genre that springs to mind. And yet Hawai'i has had a connection with opera that stretches back to the 1850s, when the first recorded opera performance, a traveling production of Donizetti's comedy "The Daughter of the Regiment," was mounted in Honolulu. Seven years later, Queen Emma sang in the chorus of Verdi's "II Trovatore while her husband, King Kamehameha IV, served as the stage manager. In 1881, an opera house was built across the street from 'Iolani Palaee, where ali'i regularly joined the audiences at performances. Queen Lili'uokalani is even said to

have written her own opera. Her star music pupil, Charles E. King, wrote Hawai'i's best-known opera, "Prince of Ilawai whieh premiered in 1925. "I believe Hawaiians have connected with opera largely because we are a very emotional culture, and opera is a very emotional art form," says Hawai'i Opera Theatre Artistic Director Henry Akina, himself a part of the Hawaiian-opera tradition. Raised in Lanikai, Akina worked as an opera director in Berlin before returning to the islands in 1996 to direct HOT. "There's great passion in opera," he says,

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At Honolulu's first opera house, built across from 'lolani Palaee in 1881, ali'i regularly joined the audiences at performances. Later on, Tandy Mackenzie brought Hawaiian vocal talent to the international opera stage.