Lexus Song Quest
Encyclopedia
The Lexus Song Quest is a competition held each year in New Zealand
since 1956. The competition is managed and presented by the New Zealand International Arts Festival. Originally, it featured contestants who perform a variety of singing, e.g., Country and Western, Pop
and Classical. Only more recently has the contest been primarily for Opera Singers. Winners include the sopranos Dame Malvina Major and Dame Kiri te Kanawa, both of whom were trained by Dame Sister Mary Leo. Kiri Te Kanawa was better known as a pop singer and club entertainer when she won the contest.
Past Winners:
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
since 1956. The competition is managed and presented by the New Zealand International Arts Festival. Originally, it featured contestants who perform a variety of singing, e.g., Country and Western, Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and Classical. Only more recently has the contest been primarily for Opera Singers. Winners include the sopranos Dame Malvina Major and Dame Kiri te Kanawa, both of whom were trained by Dame Sister Mary Leo. Kiri Te Kanawa was better known as a pop singer and club entertainer when she won the contest.
Past Winners:
- 2009 Aivale Cole
- 2007 Phillip Rhodes
- 2005 Madeleine Pierard
- 2002 Anna LeeseAnna LeeseAnna Leese is a New Zealand born soprano opera singer. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2006, as understudy for the part of Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème...
- 2000 Jared Holt
- 1998 Jonathan LemaluJonathan LemaluJonathan Fa'afetai Lemalu is a New Zealand opera singer, of Samoan descent. Born in Dunedin, he sings in the bass baritone register....
- 1996 Andrea Creighton
- 1993 Martin Snell
- 1991 Teddy Tahu RhodesTeddy Tahu Rhodes-Early life:Teddy Tahu Rhodes was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 30 August 1966, to a British mother and a New Zealand father. The Maori word "Tahu", which means "to set on fire", was added to the family name soon after they settled in New Zealand...
- 1989 Tracey King
- 1987 Deirdre Elliott
- 1986 Linden Loader
- 1983 David GriffithsDavid GriffithsDavid J. Griffiths is a U.S. physicist and educator. He has worked at Reed College since 1978, where he is currently the Howard Vollum Professor of Science. He is easily confused with the late physicist David J. Griffiths of Oregon State University.Griffiths is a graduate of The Putney School...
- 1978 David GriffithsDavid GriffithsDavid J. Griffiths is a U.S. physicist and educator. He has worked at Reed College since 1978, where he is currently the Howard Vollum Professor of Science. He is easily confused with the late physicist David J. Griffiths of Oregon State University.Griffiths is a graduate of The Putney School...
- 1972 Christopher DoigChris Doig (opera singer)Christopher Keith Doig, CNZM, OBE was a New Zealand opera singer and sports administrator. In 1972 he won New Zealand's Mobil Song Quest and subsequently became principal tenor at the Vienna State Opera...
- 1967 Anne Rasmussen
- 1965 Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
- 1963 Dame Malvina Major