Faamanu is a proud Samoan/Kiwi baritone from Flaxmere, Hastings, who has just recently completed his Honours degree in Classical Vocal Performance at the University of Waikato under the tutelage of Kristin Darragh. Faamanu begun his singing journey in church where he was a member of the church youth group and the church choir. When he realised he could hold tune, he decided to audition for a youth group called Project Prima Volta(PPV) and has since worked both onstage and backstage with Festival Opera through PPV.
Faamanu is also apart of an Operatic quartet called ‘Alofa’ made up of himself and his 3 brothers who perform regularly around the country for all sorts of corporate events. He was a recipient of the TAPA scholarship award in 2021 and 2022 and was also a recipient of the prestigious Blues award for both those years which highlights students who excel in sports and the Arts. Faamanu was selected to take part in the New Zealand Opera school in both 2022 and 2023. Faamanu has been involved in many mainstream operas including Festival Opera’s La Traviata (2019), Madama Butterfly (2017), La Boheme(2016), Carmen(2018), Project Prima Volta’s production of Dido and Aeneas (2016), sung the role of “Harasta” in Festival Opera’s production of The Cunning little Vixen(2022), ‘Simone’ in The University of Waikato’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and is now enjoying his time in the ensemble for NZOpera’s production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice or (m)Orpheus.
Faamanu was also asked to join NZ Opera on stage last year for their productions of Verdi’s Requiem, Il Trovatore and Die tote Stadt this year, singing in the chorus with an international cast in collaboration with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. Faamanu most recently was involved in NZOperas ‘Opera in schools’ tour where they visited 33 schools across the country performing ‘The sleeping beauty’ by Respighi to more than 10,000 students. Faamanu also stepped in last minute to assistant stage manage for the Wellington season of NZOperas Cosi fan tutte.
This year Faamanu made the finals for the Nicholas Tarling competition and also made the finals for the DMMF Waikato aria competition placing third. Later this year Faamanu is excited to be singing at the Marlborough Opera Festival.