With a gene pool that includes Todd Matshikiza (her grandfather’s cousin) and paternal grandfather, Mbuleli Nkuhlu, a school principal and a well-known choir master in Tsomo, Eastern Cape, it was clear from early on that music would be Pumeza Matshikiza’s life writes PETA STEWART.
This world-renowned opera singer who is now based in Germany is delighted to be back, singing in her home town, in the Duet Benefit Concert at Kirstenbosch with Cape Town Opera and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concert, which takes place under the direction of Jeremy Silver, is on Sunday, 22 March 2020. On the programme, too, are tenor Sipho Fubesi, Cape Town Opera Chorus and CTO Young Artists. The MC will be Africa Melane.
Heard all over the world
It’s high time she came back to her roots. Apart from singing with the CPO in a private concert at Lourensford in 2018, it was 16 years ago that she, still a student at UCT, sang in Lobgesang with the CPO. She last performed with Cape Town Opera in Cosi fan Tutte in 2003, a UCT/CTO production. Since then, she has been making her name and career overseas.
“Cape Town is my home and CTO and CPO were my first musical experiences when it comes to seeing and experiencing opera. It’s coming home, where it all began,” she says.
Born in Lady Frere, Pumeza was involved in choral music at school from the age of six and in church in Cape Town where she grew up, having moved here when she was three or four. As a teenager, she discovered opera on the radio and “was blown away by the way those voices were cultivated and it became my mission to understand how they were able to sing like that… I’m still at it,” she laughs.
Pumeza studied at the University of Cape Town and then at the Royal College of Music, singing in several operas in both colleges. She chose the RCM because one of the two people she considers her greatest musical influences, Kevin Volans, told her it was the best college! Nolufefe Mtshabe, her choir mistress in primary and high school, is the other.
She also participated in masterclasses with, for instance, Kiri Te Kanawa and Renata Scotto, and was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House for three years. She sang at Covent Garden in many operas, won First Prize in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in 2010, and became an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company.
Since then Pumeza has been heard virtually all over the world, from La Scala to Rio to Turkey, showing her brilliant facets as opera star and recitalist, from orchestral concert to giving singing and acting masterclasses at the Prague. She has shared the stage with Rolando Villazón in opera, and given the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Bread, Water and Salt, based on a speech by Nelson Mandela, in Rome. She has sung in the BBC Proms in the Park. For five years, she as a member of the Staatsoper Stuttgart. She signed an exclusive contract with Decca, which has released her two CDS, Voice of Hope and Arias.
Now she lives in Berlin and loves it. “It’s a country in itself, every corner you turn offers you something different. It’s very artistic, open and everyone does what they want. No restrictions. It is here that one gets to know who they really are.”
Her favourite arias
Pumeza Matshikiza also loves all music. “I oscillate between old African music and old European classical music. I will never tire of hearing the overture of Tannhäuser, for example, and I love mbaqanga traditional African music. “She also looks forward to growing not only her repertoire, but her persona, by taking larger and more challenging roles.
She sings in two operas a year and dozens of concerts. “I feel I am so fortunate to be making a living out of something I’m passionate about. I don’t have time to teach, but informally I spend a lots amount of time helping young singers who come to me for advice.” So in those few hours in between, she says “I follow world politics; I read and listen to all material I can lay my hands on; psychology and philosophy are also my beloved subjects.”
She is particularly looking to forward to singing in the Duet Benefit, for she will sing her favourite arias. Solo arias, duets and ensembles include Brindisi from La Traviata and you can bet there’ll be a couple of encores. She is also delighted to be collaborating with Jeremy Silver, the director of the UCT Opera School who says: “Pumeza moved to London in 2004, the same year I conducted for the first time in South Africa. Although we met in London then, fate never conspired that we work together and it is a special pleasure to me to be giving a concert with her this year in the beautiful grounds of Kirstenbosch.”
What: Duet Benefit Concert at Kirstenbosch
Who: Soprano Pumeza Matshikiza with CTO CPO Jeremy Silver
Where: Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens Cape Town
When: 22 March 2020, 8pm/ 5.30pm tickets at R220
Book: Webtickets
Info: luvuyo@cpo.org.za 021, 410 9809, Lesley Liddle CTO / lesleyl@capetownopera.co.za
WS
