4 March 2002 The Morrison Music Trust has announced that it will record and release five CDs by soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe over the next 2-3 years. The announcement was made at the launch on Tuesday 26 February of the first CD in the series, a programme of classical Spanish songs with pianist David Harper.

Ross Hendy, executive producer, said "embarking on a project of this scope is an endorsement by Trust Records of Deborah’s remarkable talents. Her voice has been compared in the international press to that of the young Kiri Te Kanawa, and we are sure that these recordings will help to expose her to a wide audience both in New Zealand and overseas."

The first CD, entitled Canciones españolas, in which Kapohe performs songs by Montsalvatge, Obradors, Guridi, Rodrigo and Granados, was launched in conjunction with a concert in Wellington as part of the St Andrew’s on the Terrace Lunchtime Concert series during the 2002 New Zealand Festival.

When Deborah Wai Kapohe and David Harper first began their artistic collaboration they discovered a common passion for the rich and colourful language of Spain and its vast repertoire of classical songs. It was natural, then, that for their first recording together for Trust Records they should chose to showcase the seemingly effortless fluency of Deborah’s gorgeous soprano voice in a captivating programme of art songs by Spanish composers.

Further recordings will include a selection of songs in which she will accompany herself on the guitar, and a recital of songs by New Zealand composers.