Ashburton-raised tenor Simon O'Neill - who worked on a recording nominated for two Grammy Awards - says he was thrilled to be part of a "massive symphony".
Simon O'Neill Photo: Screenshot NZSO/Latitude Creative
The internationally recognised opera singer sang the role of Dr Marianus in a Los Angeles Philharmonic recording of Mahler's Symphony No 8 under conductor Gustavo Dudamel. He was one of eight vocal soloists in the aptly-nicknamed "Symphony of a Thousand" - the work calls for massed choirs and a large orchestra, with 346 musicians taking part in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's recording.
The album has been nominated for Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered Album, Classical for the project's sound engineers Alexander Lipay and Dmitriy Lipay.
"I'm really thrilled, that was great news to wake up to in my MIQ room. I'm really proud of the album," he told Morning Report.
"Symphony Number Eight is a massive symphony. Mahler wrote it in 1906, it made its premiere in 1910. It's called the symphony of a thousand because essentially you need 1000 people to put it on. In this particular recording we have 346.
"You have four choirs, a massive symphony orchestra of 100 people and then you have eight opera singers - I'm one of them - who sing the big solos at the front."
New technology was used to create the album, O'Neill said.
"Just to get the nomination is a ... real tip of the hat to one's work, I'm really proud of it."
In the new year O'Neill heads to Europe for multiple roles.