Tenor Filipe Manu runner-up in 2016 Lexus Song Quest [1]
Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - 16:33. Updated on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - 20:19.
Auckland raised tenor Filipe Manu won second place at New Zealand’s prestigious opera singing competition, the 2016 Lexus Song Quest, last Saturday July 23. The 25 year-old came second to a fellow Aucklander, baritone Benson Wilson who won the competition and the $20,000 prize.
Filipe was awarded a cash prize of $8,000 as well as a Study Scholarship of $10,000. Filipe credits his mother, Sesilili Manu, for his success. He told Stuff Entertainment news “My mother had to sacrifice a lot, she had the task of bringing up four boys on her own, and balancing four boys with two jobs…..she had a really hard job and I owe so much to her.”
Born in Australia of Tongan descent, Filipe moved to New Zealand with his family when he was six years-old. He discovered his love for singing at his Auckland high school Dilworth. Filipe stated “The classical singing was a way of getting out of class really…and then I kind of accidently fell in love with it. Classical music it just spoke to me. It’s just so beautiful.”
Filipe is a member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus and the New Zealand Youth Choir. He currently attends Waikato University where he is studying towards a Major in Classical Performance. He was named 2014’s New Zealand Young Performer of the Year. He was a finalist in the New Zealand Aria that same year and in 2015 was named a Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist with New Zealand Opera. Filipe regularly sings in the New Zealand Opera Chorus and has sung lead tenor roles in the Barber of Seville and the Elixir of Love in the company’s schools adapted productions.