The Tongan counter-tenor who won this years Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest says his success is still sinking in.
Samuel Mataele won the $50,000 first prize after a spectacular Gala night in Wellington on Saturday in New Zealand’s most prestigious opera competition.
Mataele took out New Zealands top opera competition after a full on week of preparations leading into the final – where he and five others sung – accompanied by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
“It was intense. It was a week of no rest … when you weren’t singing, your brain was working over time. So it took a lot of my concentration, and it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced really before. But yeah, you’d expect that from a competition as big as the Kiri Te Kanawa song quest,” he said.
Despite making history as the competitions youngest male winner at only 19 years old, Mataele said he would rather be recognised for his artistry than his age. He is the only counter-tenor in the competitions 70-year history to take the top prize.
The counter-tenor is considered the highest male voice in classical music, and has a vocal range equivalent to that of a female contralto or mezo-soprano.
Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest 2026 Grand Final Gala, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, Saturday 11 July 2026.
Hagen Hopkins
Mataele has always loved music and credits his sister for inspiring him to pursue a career in Opera.
“Music in general has always been a part of my life. It’s been something that I’ve loved since I was born. But my sister, she was a big role model for me.”
His dream was further cemented when he discovered the works of famous classical composers online.
“I went to YouTube, and I found Bach. He was the first composer that I really latched onto, and and I loved him. I there was just something about how classical music made me feel that I didn’t feel that sort of connection with pop music that was being streamed on radio and stuff. So that’s what really drew me to this.”
Mataele said the win is also a proud moment for Tonga as he joins the ranks alongside Felipe Manu as Tongan Song Quest champions.
“I think winning this competition has put Tonga on a pedestal in in the sense that Tonga is a very small island, and yet there’s so much talent to be found within it, not just within the island itself, but within the diaspora. But there’s just a pride that I’ve got, and I hope that other Tongans have because I don’t win it just for me, but for all of us.”
Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest Finalists 2026 (L-R) Cecily Shaw, Samuel Downs, Samuel Mataele, Sarah Mileham, Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono, Faamanu Fonoti-Fuimaono
Hagen Hopkins
He believes Pacific singers have a natural flair for opera because of the strong storytelling traditions embedded in their cultures.
“We have a significant advantage because we don’t necessarily grow up with classical music, but music in general, and storytelling is a part of who we are.
“We are we are oral people, we tell our stories through song and through dance, and I think that that has, when you use that sort of core of your being, and then attach it to the Western style of of opera, which will inevitably take your music more internationally.”
Pacific voices also posses a distinctive quality that resonates with audiences around the world, he said.
“I find that we have a warmth to our sound, it’s unique. I mean, we’re not the only people with good voices, but I think we have this warmth, this richness to our sound that’s attractive to the listeners in Europe, and I think that’s what pushes us further.”
When asked what he plans to do next, Mataele said he will complete his undergraduate studies in Auckland before using the competitions prize money to launch his career in Europe.
