Baritone Samuel McKeever is a New Zealand singer from Heretaunga Hastings whose early interest in opera was fostered through Project Prima Volta, a Hawke’s Bay youth opera initiative offering young performers the opportunity to work alongside international artists in full‑scale productions. He completed a Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance with First Class Honours at Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music in 2021, and in 2024–25 was an artist at Te Pae Kōkako: The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio (TANZOS), supported by the Freemasons Foundation and studying with Nikki Li Hartliep.
A prizewinner in major national competitions, Samuel was a semi‑finalist in the 2024 Lexus Song Quest, winner of the 2023 Wellington Aria, and placed third in the 2022 Lockwood New Zealand Aria. He is also a three‑time alumnus of the New Zealand Opera School.
Samuel’s operatic roles include the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Festival Opera 2025), Count Ribbing in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (Wellington Opera 2025), Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata. He has sung extensively in opera choruses across New Zealand and covered roles including Angelotti (Tosca) and Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor).
Concert highlights include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Burana for the Hamilton Arts Festival, Messiah with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and Verdi’s Requiem. In 2025 he will tour Dame Gillian Whitehead’s The Journey of Mataatua Whare with Opus Orchestra and appear as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro for National Youth Opera Aotearoa.