Pumeza Matshikiza
Described as "one of today's most exciting new operatic voices" (Independent), South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza is one of today’s rising opera stars. An exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, her debut album “Voice of Hope” was released in 2014. Her second album is slated for release in spring 2016.
Pumeza Matshikiza kicks off the 15/16 season singing solo concerts in Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Krakow. In October she makes her debut with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, singing the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Bread, Water and Salt, based on the famous speech by Nelson Mandela. The concerts that open Santa Cecelia’s season are led by Sir Antonio Pappano and broadcast live on TV and radio. The piece is repeated as part of Radio France’s Festival Présence in February 2016, Mikko Franck is conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. On the operatic stage, Pumeza Matshikiza is singing Mimì La Bohème and as well as making her role debut as Micaёla Carmen, both at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where she has been an ensemble member for four years already. Pumeza Matshikiza can be heard singing in recitals in London, Amsterdam and Salle Gaveau in Paris. The CD release concert of her new album is schedule for March 2016 in Aarhus. She also joins Rolando Villazón for concerts at the BASF Feierabendhaus Ludwigshafen as well as Schloss Salem and gives a solo concert at the Festival de la Vézère, France, before closing the season with a recital at the Rheinvokal Festival.
Recent engagements include her debut as Eve in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s CO2 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the English Concert Orchestra at the Bristol Old Vic as part of the Bristol Proms series; two concerts with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in Denmark; an appearance at the BBC Proms in the Park and a concert tour with Rolando Villazón that took her to Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Gasteig Munich, Kuppelsaal Hanover, Tonhalle Düsseldorf and Helsinki. Recent roles in Stuttgart include Mimì La Bohème, Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Ännchen Der Freischütz, Zerlina Don Giovanni and Pamina Die Zauberflöte.
Pumeza Matshikiza studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music and the Royal College of Music with a full scholarship. Roles at the RCM included Marenka The Bartered Bride, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Rosalinde Die Fledermaus, Concepcion L’heure espagnole, Poppea L’incoronazione di Poppea and Contessa Le nozze di Figaro. The young soprano also participated in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen, Renata Scotto, Joan Rogers, Paul Farrington, Philip Langridge and Ileana Cotrubas. She has worked with accompanists Malcolm Martineau, Julius Drake and Simon Lepper.
Pumeza Matshikiza was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House from 2007-2009 and could be heard as Blumenmädchen in Wagner’s Parsifal, Slave in Strauss’ Salome, Innocent The Minotaur, Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Sandmann Hänsel und Gretel and Tebaldo in Verdi’s Don Carlo, conducted by Antonio Pappano. In January, 2010 Pumeza Matshikiza was awarded with the 1st Prize in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition and became an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company, singing the title role in Mozart’s Zaide for which she was awarded with the Patrick Fyffe-Dame Hilda Brackett Prize.
Sources
Source Center Stage Artist Management Image Simon Fowler