The tenor singing soul at the World of WearableArts

When tenor Lila Crichton auditioned for Project Prima Volta (PPV) as a young teenager he thought he was auditioning for Shortland Street.

“I was really into acting at the time. I was so excited that I might be in Shortland Street. And then I turned up and they asked me to sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’… and then they sent me home.

“I found out when I got back to school, my music teacher explained that opera and soap opera are not the same thing.”

It turned out no harm was done, Crichton passed with flying colours and joined the ranks of PPV, the Hawke’s Bay organisation supporting talented young opera singers.

NZ-born Samoan, Crichton, now 25, has gone on to play leading operatic roles such as Le Dancaire in Bizet’s Carmen, the Sorcerer in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Goro in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly among others.

His next professional outing is with the World of WearableArt (WOW), this year celebrating its 20th anniversary in the capital city. The opera singer has been invited as a musical artist in this year's show.

"I'm wearing some really beautiful custom garments which have been designed for me," Crichton says.

“They've really mastered that whole idea of leaving space in the right places so that breathing and singing is all made easy.”

He is performing alongside Riiki Reid, Tusekah and recent graduates from Wellington’s Te Auaha musical theatre programme, RV Quijano and Mackenzie Htay.

Now based in Wellington, the young tenor who grew up singing gospel in church, is comfortable performing across a range of genres, from Handel's Messiah to his own soul music.

His WOW appearance is likely to feature more of the latter - he has a soul album coming out later this year.

“Soul, I'm pretty sure, is derived from gospel music. And a lot of the music in my life that I grew up on in the diaspora, but also just a lot of the music that I gravitate towards is all Black American music.

“And so I am heavily inspired by that sound, actually heavily. And I create a lot of my sound inspired by that sound.”

He sees no reason to confine himself to one genre, he says.

“I think it's another privilege of mine to be growing up in this age where everyone keeps talking about genre bending and genre defying and not having to fit within one specific field and genre. And I love every single kind of world that I'm able to sit in.”

He has also formed his own production company, Woven Collective, with a show calledA Master of None: Brown Fala, touring in the coming months.

“CNZ Pasifika have funded it to tour. And so, we'll be taking that to Hawke's Bay and then we'll also be taking that to Christchurch.”

Possibly even Samoa, he says.

“I'm already dreaming and manifesting and working behind the scenes to try and figure out how to get it to the islands.”

The World of WearableArt will open on Thursday night at TSB Arena, showcasing 85 finalists garments including 36 from New Zealand.