The Scholars Baroque, along with renowned national soloists, will perform the dramatic and moving Stabat Mater by Franz Josef Haydn. This is a stirring and deeply emotional work and, next to his choral masterpiece The Creation, is probably Haydn at his finest.

Immerse yourself in the profound beauty of Haydn’s music, which captures the sorrow and pathos of the Virgin Mary witnessing the crucifixion of her son. With its stunning melodies and rich harmonies, this piece is not only a cornerstone of the classical choral repertoire but also a moving reflection on love and sacrifice.

The Scholars Baroque are also pleased to welcome Esha Xu, winner of the Bay of Plenty Symphonia’s 2025 Rising Stars Concerto Competition, performing Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major, K330. Esha is a captivating and talented performer who enthralled audiences at the concerto competition last year, and the Scholars are excited to share the concert stage with her in their first concert of 2026.

Our Featured Artists

Concert I features an exceptional lineup of musicians. We are joined by Esha Xu (Piano) and Jeremy Woodside (Organ), along with a distinguished quartet of soloists: Elizabeth Mandeno (Soprano), Katrina Daniela (Alto), Iain Tetley (Tenor), and James Harrison (Bass).

Esha Xu is a Year 8 student at Bethlehem College who began learning piano at age five and now also learns violin, viola, harpsichord, and trumpet. Esha has won many awards and scholarships at Performing Arts competitions and in 2023, won the BOP IRMT Piano Senior Scholarship. She has done her piano performance certificate in 2024, and now she is working towards her NZMEB Diploma AMUSNZ with both piano and harpsichord. She was the winner of the Bay Of Plenty Rising Stars Concerto Competition in 2025. She performed as a viola soloist and harpsichord accompanist with the Tauranga Youth Chamber Ensemble at Baycourt Art Center in 2024.She has taken part of local community orchestra in Siegen, Germany with Viola in January 2025. She also sings in her school choir, plays in school orchestras and is a member of both the Youth Philharmonic Tauranga and the Tauranga City Brass Auxiliary band.

Jeremy Woodside was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, and his musical life began as a chorister at ChristChurch Cathedral; he was later Assistant Organist.  He has held organ scholarships at Wells Cathedral and Westminster Abbey and has directed and accompanied many choral societies and choirs.

In 2011, Jeremy directed the Cathedral Choir for the National Memorial Service in Hagley Park following the February earthquakes, in the presence of HRH Prince William.  He also gave a number of solo recitals throughout Europe to raise money for the cathedral’s appeal and has released three solo CDs on the ChristChurch Cathedral organ.

Jeremy graduated as a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) from the University of Canterbury, and while there was awarded the Lilburn Prize for composition and Madrigal Prize for Excellence in Vocal Music.  Later he completed a Masters in Organ Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.  In August 2013, he gave the inaugural recital at the Transitional Cathedral in Christchurch.

His organ tutors have included Daniel Moult, Thomas Trotter and David Briggs, and Jeremy gained his Fellowship in Organ Performance from Trinity College, London in 2009, and holds an Associate Diploma from the Royal College of Organists.  As a recitalist/accompanist, he has performed in many major UK cathedrals, St George’s Chapel Windsor, Malvern Priory, St Matthew in the City Auckland, Dunedin Town Hall, St Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, Notre-Dame in Paris, as part of the International Organ Summer Festival in Rome, Esplanade Singapore as part of Tapestry: a festival of sacred music, the Musikverein in Vienna, and ‘Lumiere’ in Nelson Cathedral – the first ever organ recital in New Zealand with a visual light display.

From September 2015 – March 2018 Jeremy was Head of Keyboard and Organist at Repton School.

Jeremy regularly performs with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, both as a soloist, choir accompanist, and orchestral player.  He is an active composer with various pieces being published by the RSCM and Crescendo Music Publications in Melbourne, Australia;  is the Director of Music at Knox Church in Christchurch, Head of Music and Principal Repetiteur for Toi Toi Opera, and rehearsal pianist for Showbiz Christchurch.

Elizabeth Mandeno is a former Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist and Freemasons Opera Artist with New Zealand Opera. She studied with Dennis O'Neill and Nuccia Focile at the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff, where she received an MA with Distinction in Advanced Vocal Studies. She has performed as a soloist alongside Dame Felicity Lott and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, as well as with many choirs, orchestras, and opera companies around New Zealand including Auckland Choral, Bach Musica, Days Bay Opera, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Elizabeth has also performed and workshopped numerous new pieces by up and coming and established New Zealand composers at the CANZ Composers' Workshop in Nelson, the University of Auckland, the University of Waikato, Opera Factory, and New Zealand Opera.  In 2019 Elizabeth won first prize in the Lockwood New Zealand Aria, sponsored by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation.

Notable opera and concert performances include Elisa: Il Re Pastore, Amina: La Sonnambula (Days Bay Opera), Brahms Requiem (Christchurch City Choir/CSO), Handel's Messiah (City Choir Dunedin/DSO, Auckland Choral, Christchurch City Choir/CSO), St Matthew Passion, Bach Magnificat, Bach B Minor Mass (Bach Musica NZ), Cleopatra: Giulio Cesare, Josabeth: Athalia (Handel Consort and Quire NZ), Haydn's Creation (NZ Choral Federation North Island Tour), Beethoven’s Fantasia in C (Auckland Choral), Jane Kendall: This Other Eden by Anthony Ritchie (Opera Otago, world premiere).

Kat Daniela has a music background as an educator, singer, conductor, and musical director. She studied Music and Education at the University of Auckland. She has also studied conducting with Karen Grylls and Uwe Grodd, and has undertaken study in the Estill Vocal Method. She is a former Arts Waikato Creative Communities scholarship recipient. 

Kat performed with Opera Factory and various choirs and ensembles in Auckland. She served as Musical Director for three community choirs in the Hauraki–Coromandel region, over ten years, before moving to Tauranga, where she became Musical Director of the Oriana Singers.

Alongside her performance work, Kat is deeply engaged in arts leadership and advocacy. She is currently Chair of MENZA (Music Education New Zealand Aotearoa), working at a national level to support music educators across all sectors and advocate for Music education. She is also Head of Music at Pāpāmoa College.

Iain developed his passion for singing in England, gaining his music degree at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Since coming to this side of the world, he has performed solo many times around New Zealand, and was a member of the specialist chamber choir Musica Sacra.

Career highlights include singing in an octet for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; as the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion with City Choir Dunedin, Bach Musica and Auckland Choral; as the Evangelist in Bach's St John Passion with City Choir Dunedin; and as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with Auckland Choral. He has also sung solo in excerpts of Handel’s Solomon alongside world-renowned countertenor Andreas Scholl. 

Iain’s degree specialised in Conducting, and he has directed several choirs, including South Auckland Choral, the Franklin Community Choir, and Cantorum. He combined three choirs, full orchestra and eight soloists to conduct the Auckland premiere of Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.

In 2018 Iain moved to Whanganui, where he has conducted Schola Sacra Choir since 2019. On stage, he performed as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera in 2023, with Amdram Whanganui.

James Harrison studied at the University of Auckland, the Royal College of Music, and the National Opera Studio in London. Since moving back to New Zealand he is now in demand here as both a performer and teacher. 

In the past few years James has sung regularly for New Zealand Opera after singing at The Royal Opera House, Opera Holland Park, throughout Britain, and in Ireland and Norway prior to coming home. 

James has appeared in concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, The Barbican, The Wigmore Hall and St John’s Smith Square with groups such as The Prince Consort, Grahame Johnson’s Young Songmakers and The Classical Opera Company. 

James is now in demand as a teacher and choral educator, teaching at the University of Auckland, working with some of Auckland’s top school choirs and as a guest coach with all three national choral ensembles.

Esha Xu