Anna Leese was joined by mother Carolyn Leese at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday.
She was performing Poulenc’s Gloria, accompanied by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Choirs Aotearoa Otago-Southland Choir and the City Choir Dunedin — the latter of which her mother was a part of.
Leese said it was the first time she and her mother had performed together on stage in a professional context.
She only found out her mother would be joining her a couple of weeks ago.
"It was strange, because I’m so used to just working alone.
"Obviously there are hundreds of people on the stage, but I’m usually just moving around in my own little orbit and it was weird to have one of my family members on the stage, for sure."
The pair used to sing on stage together when she was growing up, which was probably among the last times they had sung together, Leese said.
Her mother was a soprano like herself, but on Saturday had "hidden herself in the altos".
"Every now and then I just heard her tone stick out, because she’s a trained singer and so she has a tone that projects.
"Every so often I heard her piping through the altos and I thought, ‘oh, there’s Mum’."
Being joined by her mother had made Saturday’s performance more special, and she hoped there would be another occasion to do it again soon.
"It can be a very lonely career, and it was nice to be able to have someone who’s visiting your dressing room who’s there just to talk about mundane things and not just about the performance."
Mrs Leese said she felt "really proud" to have performed alongside her daughter with the choir.
A retired piano and singing teacher of 47 years, she had only been a part of City Choir Dunedin for this year.
"To have Anna there, finally, and this beautiful floating ethereal voice of hers, was just marvellous and such a joy to hear."
