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Samoa Attorney General Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff has warned people against discouraging vaccinations in any way.

Bass Jonathan Lemalu, the first human voice to be heard in the Ninth, sounded underpowered and unfocused, and mezzo Rinat Shaham’s beautiful timbre remained mostly submerged in the sea of sound.

In the first night’s patchy cast, there was a thankfully assertive Pirate King from Joshua Bloom who lit up the stage whenever he was on it; a deliciously deadpan Police Sergeant from Jonathan Lemalu; and attractive coloratura singing from Claudia Boyle as Mabel.

The opera's other popular highlight, "The Policeman's Song" is wonderfully performed and New Zealand born Samoan bass baritone Jonathan Lemalu makes an endearing Sergeant of Police.

The highlight was a brutally dark monodrama based on Tolstoy's short story The Death of Ivan Ilyich, featuring bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu and cellist Stephen Isserlis.