July’s Midday Concert features two Waikato University vocalists accompanied by Fergus Byett formerly from Taupō, who returns for his final performance before pursuing his musical career in the United Kingdom.
The programme will consist of arias and art songs by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Barber, Fauré, Finzi, and Chopin with Fergus accompanying two fellow Waikato music students.
A pianist, composer, organist, and conductor based in Hamilton, Fergus holds a master’s degree in classical performance (piano) from the University of Waikato, where he was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar from 2019 to 2022. He has won the University’s Concerto, Chamber Music, and Bach Competitions.
As a composer, he is steadily gaining national recognition for his choral and instrumental works. In September 2025, he will begin a new chapter as graduate teacher of Music at Ardingly College in the United Kingdom.
Millie Trusttum is a soprano from Christchurch based in Hamilton, currently in her final year studying a Bachelor of Music in Performance Voice.
While at school, she was a member of the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir 2021-2022, as well as successfully auditioning for the New Zealand Opera chorus in 2022 for their production of Macbeth.
Recently, she sang with the CSO in the role of ‘Spirit’ and as part of the chorus for their unstaged production of Dido and Aeneas in 2023.
Vocalist Arana Ashby is a third-year classical voice student at Waikato, majoring in performance with a focus as a baritone.
His journey into classical singing began during his final year at Rotorua Boys’ High School, where his involvement in composing for the school choir sparked a deep passion for vocal performance. He was subsequently accepted into the prestigious “Accelerando” program by Youth Opera Aotearoa New Zealand, which helped launch his formal vocal training.
Arana has performed a variety of operatic roles while an undergraduate and has also appeared as a soloist in major choral works such as Handel’s Messiah and Fauré’s Requiem with the University of Waikato Choir and the Hamilton Civic Choir.
The hour-long concert starts at noon on Friday, July 11 at St Andrew’s Anglican Church on Tītīraupenga Street, $10 cash only entry.
