The number of young talented opera singers coming out of New Zealand over the past four years is twice the number of potential top young voices from other countries, New Zealand Opera School director Jonathan Alver told a Whanganui audience this week.
Mr Alver was leading the "In Conversation" seminar at the Prince Edward Auditorium, Collegiate School, in Whanganui on Friday with international singing coaches Cesar Ulloa and Della Jones.
Both Mr Ulloa and Ms Jones agreed saying there were some wonderful classical young voices with superb voice quality emerging out of New Zealand.
And so many of the new voices were coming out of the South Pacific and Polynesian churches.
"These are young people who have been singing in church since they were very young. It doesn't happen that way so much any longer in Britain or Wales, for example ," Ms Jones said.
Mr Ulloa who coaches Pene Pati -of Sole3Mio fame - and described him as a young Pavarotti, said he was working at getting a special scholarship with San Francisco Opera to send Pene to Italy.
"To immerse him in the language. For Pene to learn all the nuances, phrasing and character of Italian pronounciation.''
The number of young fine classical singers had certainly doubled over the past few years, Mr Alver said.
The two coaches said they were amazed at how young many of the singers were at the NZ Opera School which runs each January in Whanganui.
"But it's not really about young ... well, 18 is too young ... it's about potential voices and there are many of those here. What is important is technique," the coaches said.
That means finding a good singing teacher and not flitting from one to another.
"You must find a good teacher and stay with them and not go overseas until your technique is solid,'' Mr Ulloa said.
Though young New Zealanders vowels trip then up because their jaws are often too tight, it can be remedied very easily, Ms Jones said.
Being a opera singer is not just having a great "set of pipes" though, they must have personality on stage and be able to become the character they are portraying.
"It is one thing to have that god-given voice; it is another to do the work to take you through. It really is all about technique in the end."