Dunedin soprano Emma Fraser (29) and mezzo soprano Claire Barton (27) will join Owaka baritone Matt Landreth (29) in the semifinals early next year.
Fraser and Barton will both be hoping to improve on their impressive performances in last year's competition when they were both finalists, Fraser coming third.
Landreth most recently performed in Dunedin as Don Alfonso in the Opera Otago production of Così fân tutti in the 2008 Otago Festival of the Arts.
He was also a Lexus Song Quest semi-finalist in 2005.
More than 50 entered New Zealand's premier singing competition and the 12 semifinalists will record a programme of six arias or songs in February.
The preliminary judges will reconvene to listen to the recordings and then select six finalists who will compete in the final at the Auckland Town Hall on April 23.
The concert will be judged by renowned German tenor Siegfried Jerusalem and the finalists will sing with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Lloyd.
The Lexus Song Quest (formerly Mobil Song Quest) is an established springboard for young New Zealand singers and has helped launch the careers of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Malvina Major, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jonathan Lemalu.
