Story: Opera and musical theatre

Donald Munro

Donald Munro took the courageous step of founding the New Zealand Opera Company in 1954. In an interview many years later, he recalled how the company would tour to small towns around New Zealand in the 1950s and 60s.

Munro was an outstanding baritone who had had an international career from the 1940s. This portrait, commissioned for a New Zealand Opera Company reunion in 1998, shows him in costume as Count Almaviva, a principal in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: C-168-001
Acrylic on canvas by Raymond Boyce

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Nga Taonga Korero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Nga Taonga Korero (Donald Munro Interview/ Reference number ID 21926). Artwork courtesy of Raymond Boyce

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Lindis Taylor, 'Opera and musical theatre - New Zealand opera companies', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/speech/41877/donald-munro (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Lindis Taylor, published 22 Oct 2014