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New Zealand Opera offices, Parnell, Auckland

New Zealand Opera is New Zealand's only full-time professional opera company, and as such has a significant archive of information and photos relating to the history of opera in the country. Opera in New Zealand is woefully covered in Wikipedia and Commons! This project is a place to coordinate efforts to improve that.

Wikipedian in Residence 2021

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A Wikipedian in Residence, much like an artist in residence, is an experienced Wikipedia editor who works within an institution. The Wikipedian in Residence can improve the coverage and accuracy of Wikidata and Wikipedia articles related to the institution's area of interest, facilitate the donation of photos and other media to Wikimedia Commons, advocate for the use of open licenses, and organise the volunteer community to help in public events such as edit-a-thons. New Zealand Opera was the first opera company in the world to partner with a Wikipedian in Residence.

Mike Dickison (User:Giantflightlessbirds) was the Wikipedian in Residence for New Zealand Opera from January to August 2021, undertaking a collaborative project to improve the coverage of Māori and Pasifika in opera. This was a paid position, working 1–2 days a month, supported by a grant from the Stout Trust managed by Perpetual Guardian. Some work was done remotely, including during lockdown, and some during visits to Auckland and Wellington to work with physical archives. Also assisting were the four-month WikiProject Performing Arts Aotearoa New Zealand (Q106787482) run by Pakoire, and volunteers DrThneed and Jonathanischoice.

The residency focussed specifically on the role of Māori and Pasifika in opera, using the resources, photo archives, and publications of NZ Opera and its predecessors Auckland Opera, Wellington City Opera, and Southern Opera. During the residency it became clear that the coverage of opera in New Zealand by Wikimedia projects was so poor that a large amount of fundamental work was required, and there was scope for an expanded follow-up project.

Outcomes

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2021 premiere of Ihitai 'Avei'a – Star Navigator
Natasha Wilson as Purea in Ihitai 'Avei'a

Wikipedia created

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Wikipedia improved

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Costume design drawings by Lisa Holmes for 2016 production of The Magic Flute

Unless noted, these had photos added from the NZ Opera collection.

Wikidata created

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Wikidata improved

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Wikimedia Commons categories created and photos uploaded

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The Institution:New Zealand Opera page template was created for photos from its collections. The following categories were created; the number of uploaded photos are noted.

  • The Magic Flute (2006)
    The Magic Flute (2006)
  • Faust (2006)
    Faust (2006)
  • Hōhepa (2012)
    Hōhepa (2012)
  • Sara Brodie in rehearsals for The Magic Flute (2016)
    Sara Brodie in rehearsals for The Magic Flute (2016)
  • The Turn of the Screw (2019)
    The Turn of the Screw (2019)
  • Eight Songs for a Mad King (2020)
    Eight Songs for a Mad King (2020)
  • The Human Voice (2020)
    The Human Voice (2020)

    • The tool GLAMorgan can estimate the reach of photos uploaded to Commons, by totalling the number of unique page views for the articles on which they appear. In August 2021, for example, Category:New Zealand Opera photos were seen by 109,107 people (including 27,390 for photos in the article The Turn of the Screw and 18,723 in The Magic Flute). A total of 76 pages used NZ Opera photos, including Wikipedia articles in English, Russian, Arabic, Hungarian, and French.

    Articles to work on

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    Some of these were created or improved during the 2021 Wikipedian in Residence term; there is still plenty to do

    Organisations
    Name Dates Wikidata Quality Commons Notes
    Wellington Opera 2021– Q107006781 —
    New Zealand Opera 2000– Q7752980 Start Category:New Zealand Opera improved
    Opera NZ 1995–2000 Q107005513
    Auckland Opera 1991–1995 Q107005503
    Auckland Metropolitan Opera 1990–1991 Q107005468
    Mercury Opera 1980s–1991 —
    National Opera of Wellington 1998–2000 Q106868423 Redirect
    Wellington City Opera 1984–1998 Q106835341 C created 17 May 2021
    De La Tour Opera 1975–1984 Q106868994
    Canterbury Opera 1985–2006 Q107005600
    Southern Opera 2007–2012 Q107005634
    Toi Toi Opera 2020– Q108387097
    National Opera of New Zealand 1978–1982 Q107005566 Stub — Created 28 May 2021
    Opera Otago 1985– —
    Dunedin Opera Company 1956–1985 —
    New Zealand Opera Company 1954–1971 Q106869205 Stub — Created 28 May 2021
    Perkel Opera 1974–1989 Q107005714
    Class Act Opera 1991– —
    Academy Opera 1980s– —
    New Zealand Opera Society —
    New Zealand Opera Foundation —
    New Zealand Opera School —
    The Dame Malvina Major Foundation 1991– Q106865811 Redirect
    Performers
    Name Wikidata Quality Commons Notes
    Phillip Rhodes Q107134093 Start — Created 21 June 2021
    Paul Whelan Q107586138 – Paul Whelan
    Pene Pati Q107005513 Redirect File:Pene Pati cropped.jpg
    Amitai Pati Q107585912 Redirect Amitai Pati the Pati brothers are only covered in the Sole Mio article and need their own)
    Thomas Atkins — — —
    Manase Latu Q106807792 — —
    Amina Edris Q92437288 — —
    Samson Setu — — —
    Filipe Manu Not Q66135405! — — Not the rugby player! Disentangle.
    Eliza Boom — — —
    Madison Nonoa Q106807791 Stub Madison Nonoa Created 21 August 2021
    Benson Wilson Q106807790 Start — Created 15 July 2021
    Natasha Wilson Q108267551 Start Natasha Wilson created 26 August 2021

    Other singers that could do with additional photos and information include Īnia Te Wīata, Donald McIntyre, Kiri Te Kanawa, Malvina Major, Simon O'Neill, and Jonathan Lemalu. Some of the singers in Southern Voices like Noel Mangin (Q6152001) and Anson Austin (Q107638410) have no English Wikipedia article at all, and some like Rodney Macann aren't even in Wikidata.

    Works

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    Commons categories and uploads

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    Needed: photos of performers, especially ensemble photos of emerging artists like this one, which are so useful for Wikidata and article infoboxes.

    References

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    Wikidata items for works and editions, to help with Wikipedia citation, have been created as noted.

    • Brusey, Phyllis. (1973). Ring Down the Curtain. Wellington: C. Rex Monigatti. Ring Down the Curtain (1973) 1st ed. (Q107010018) • History of the New Zealand Opera Company. *
    • De Lautour, Geoffrey. (2000). The Singer I'll Love for the Song. Auckland: Flip Publishing. The Singer I'll Love for the Song (2000) 1st ed. (Q107305294) • Memoir including NZ Opera Company history.
    • Harcourt, Peter. (2002). Fantasy & Folly: the lost world of New Zealand musicals 1880–1940. Wellington: Steele Roberts. • Coverage of Hinemoa and early opera companies.
    • MacKay, Moses, Amatai Pati, and Pene Pati (with Donna Fleming). (2104). Sol3 Mio: our story. Auckland: Penguin.
    • Simpson, A. (1990). Opera in New Zealand: Aspects of history and performance. Wellington, N.Z: Witham Press. Opera in New Zealand (1990) 1st ed. (Q106786488) • Good summaries of early companies, some composers and singers, NZ Opera Society *
    • Simpson, Adrienne. (1992). Southern Voices: International Opera Singers of New Zealand. Auckland: Reed Southern Voices (1992) 1st ed. (Q107009853) • OK for biographies of Malvina Major, Kiri Te Kanawa, Inia Te Wiata etc. *
    • Simpson, A. (1996). Opera's farthest frontier: A history of professional opera in New Zealand. Auckland: Reed. • Mostly 19th C and up to the 1970s, but good for the various regional and national companies. Opera's Farthest Frontier (1996) 1st ed. (Q107073846) *
    • Simpson, A. (2000). Capital Opera: Wellington's Opera Company 1982–1999. Wellington: National Opera of Wellington. Capital Opera (2000) 1st. ed (Q106786396) • Covers the history of that company and the merger that formed NZ Opera. **
    • Tarling, N. (2002). On and off: Opera in Auckland, 1970–2000. Palmerston North, N.Z: Dunmore Press. On and Off (Q107009777) • NZ Opera Company, National Opera of New Zealand, Auckland Opera, and Opera NZ. ** (reviewed here)

    Diary

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    January 2021
    • Creating project page
    • Working out initial list of topics to create or improve with the help of NZ Opera
    February 2021
    • Library research
    July 2021
    August 2021
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:GLAM/NZOpera&oldid=1042030762"