I wanted to sing, BUT THE PHONE DIDN'T RING!

How opera's Georgia Jamieson Emms turned her luck around to live her dream

-  Elise Cacace

Opera singer Georgia Jamieson Emms has rebuilt her success from the ground up, after fearing people had forgotten who she was. Following the birth of her first child, she realised her career was stuck in a rut.

“I had my son Raphael and then I was twiddling my thumbs,” she says. “I wanted to sing, but the phone wasn’t ringing, so I knew that if I was to get back on stage, I had to make it happen for myself."

With a performing arts degree and an extensive background in singing, Georgia was determined the show must go on, and now, seven years later, she's revamped one of Mozart's famed operas, founded two major New Zealand festivals, and written for the big screen, and is touring the country as a lead in Così fan tutte, a romantic tragicomedy staged alongside a live orchestra.

“It’s been pretty incredible, beyond anything I ever imagined!” says the 40-year-old, who returned to New Zealand in 2016 after five years spent living and performing in Germany.