Tongan tenor Manase Latu

Young Tongan tenor wins prestigious opera award

The 22-year-old won first place out of ten finalists at the New Zealand Aria held in Rotorua at the weekend, one of Australasia's most prestigious singing competitions.

Latu's rendition of Una Furtiva Lagrima from Italian opera L'elisir d'amore, won him the award prize of $20,000 from the Dame Malvina Major Foundation.

He says he's still overwhelmed and honoured to be representing Pasifika on the opera stage.

"It's sort of starting to sink in now but when my name was called out as first place I sort of froze and I didn't expect this in a million years."