You never quite know where a career as an opera singer will take you. On a recent visit to New Zealand, I was honoured to become the first opera singer to perform in a Maori 'Tatai hono Marae', a remembrance service, for the Mercy Hospice in Auckland. The whole room was garlanded with flowers and memorabilia, and  every single Maori relative spoke in their native tongue giving a eulogy of their loved one.

One gentleman (whom I later found out was the relative of Maori royalty) spoke at some length giving his lineage back some four hundred years, which took quite some time! There was a passion and pathos in his voice which made me feel as though I knew what he was saying.  Maori people love music in a similar way as Welsh people do, and wear their heart on their sleeve. I was therefore given a special status for my vocal prowess and was welcomed everywhere.