Hedda Oosterhoff has been awarded the inaugural Pettman Dare International Performance Scholarship (PDIPS) and with it “the opportunity of a lifetime” she says.

PDIPS is a unique programme of practical experience and academic development whereby scholars spend seven months in the UK working at the heart of award-winning Opera North, exploring the full spectrum of skills that make up the artform of opera while receiving mentoring by the University of Leeds. This is followed by two months in New Zealand developing further skills at The NBR New Zealand Opera and sharing discoveries at the University of Canterbury.

Ric Green, Operations & Technical Director of Opera North and one of the members of the selection panel*, says Hedda is a perfect candidate for the scholarship. “She’s a vibrant person with an inventive, enquiring mind, many strings to her bow – being passionate about music, design, academic discourse and methodologies, photography, and of course opera – and a great clarity about her career path. She’s the sort of person who engages in a symbiotic way with the people and environment surrounding her, and the skills and experiences she will gain from the scholarship will make a valuable contribution to arts learning and practice in New Zealand.”

Hedda, who was born in Holland and moved to Wellington when she was nine, started learning the violin at the age of five. She studied at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating in 2004 with a BMus in Performance Violin and in 2008 with a Bachelor of Architecture (honours). Music has always been an integral part of her life, from playing in the orchestra pit for operas and musicals and co-founding and performing in the successful string group, Rosa Musica, to working as a freelance musician, playing in a chamber orchestra and a band, and teaching violin. Hedda’s first taste of designing for stage and theatre came last year when she was able to bring her knowledge of music and training in computer graphic art to Tony Rabbit’s design for The NBR New Zealand Opera’s production of The Italian Girl in Algiers. A co-production with Scottish Opera, she subsequently toured with the opera when it was remounted in Scotland.

 “In the past year, I've fully fallen in love with the opera theatre,” Hedda says. “With my background in music and design, opera feels like a perfect fit. My intention is to embrace all opportunities provided by PDIPS, and then bring this experience home, and continue to work towards a career that incorporates academic work, classical music and live staged performances in lyric theatre.”

As well as gaining a wealth of practical experience in and knowledge of all aspects of a music theatre performance, along with an in-depth understanding and interpretation of music performance practice, Hedda will have the opportunity to make a vital contribution to PDIPS by creating new material as a “living archive” for the study and practice of music theatre. “I look forward to gaining more skills in all aspects of operatic productions, especially the chance to be able to record and document (in particular to photograph) all of the production processes,” Hedda says. “I would like to emphasise the connection between the composers’ intentions – as expressed in their written music – and the outcome of the design. It will be a pleasure to record all the developments, procedures and challenges that are encountered, from concept to finished product, so that I leave behind a detailed and aesthetic legacy in the form of the living archive.”

* The PDIPS selection panel comprised:

Opera North – Ric Green

University of Leeds – Prof. David Cooper

University of Leeds – Susan Daniels

The NBR New Zealand Opera – Aidan Lang

The NBR New Zealand Opera – Wyn Davies

University of Canterbury – Dr Amanda Morris

University of Canterbury – Edith Salzmann

University of Canterbury – Wolfgang Kraemer

The Pettman Dare International Performance Scholarship is developed and delivered by Opera North and the University of Leeds as part of the DARE collaboration www.dareyou.org.uk. It is made possible through the generosity of Professor Barrie and Mrs Maureen Pettman.