Opera diva to join University of Waikato staff

Soprano Dame Malvina Major has been appointed Senior Fellow in Music at the University of Waikato.

Currently based in Christchurch, Dame Malvina will return to the Waikato, where she spent much of her life, to take up the new position in February.

She will be teaching voice students, mainly postgraduate and doctoral students, in the University’s music programme and will also play an ambassadorial role for the university as a whole.

“We’re absolutely delighted that Dame Malvina is joining us,” says University Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford. “She brings extensive experience in performance and teaching to the Faculty where the music programme is flourishing.”

Dame Malvina has had an outstanding international career. She had major opera roles all over the world before returning to New Zealand to teach and perform throughout the country.

Her association with Waikato University goes back a long way. She was Patron of the University Foundation during the fund raising campaign for the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts and was conferred with an honorary doctorate in 1994. The Dame Malvina Foundation has also supported Waikato music students over the years.

She says she’s looking forward to returning to her home town. “The music programme at Waikato is internationally recognised and doing some innovative work. To be able to work alongside such a strong and talented staff is not only exciting but a privilege. I’m looking forward to it – especially the performance aspect of teaching. It’s such a vital part of music, and it’s through performance that students grow.”

Dame Malvina says as an ambassador for the University it will be a privilege to be able to promote Waikato nationally and internationally.