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Lyric soprano Pumeza Matshikiza was born in South Africa, and studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music under Professor Virginia Davids. A winner of many awards, Pumeza is also a graduate of the Royal College of Music, where she studied under Michel Vallat as the Peter Moores, Pidem and Derek Butler Trust Scholar. She was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House for the 2007/8 and 2008/9 seasons, and in January 2010 won first prize in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. She is an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company.
Student roles at the RCM included Marenka/The Bartered Bride, Pamina/Die Zauberflöte, Fiordiligi/Cosi fan tutte, Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Conçeption/L’heure Espagnol, Poppea/L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Contessa/Le Nozze di Figaro.
Pumeza Matshikiza has participated in master classes with artists such as Philip Langridge, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen, Renata Scotto, Joan Rogers, Paul Farrington and Ileana Cotrubas.
Pumeza Matshikiza made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as a Flowermaiden in Parsifal. Other roles with the Royal Opera House have included Slave/Salome, Innocent/The Minotaur, Tebaldo
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Lyric soprano Pumeza Matshikiza was born in South Africa, and studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music under Professor Virginia Davids. A winner of many awards, Pumeza is also a graduate of the Royal College of Music, where she studied under Michel Vallat as the Peter Moores, Pidem and Derek Butler Trust Scholar. She was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House for the 2007/8 and 2008/9 seasons, and in January 2010 won first prize in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. She is an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company.
Student roles at the RCM included Marenka/The Bartered Bride, Pamina/Die Zauberflöte, Fiordiligi/Cosi fan tutte, Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Conçeption/L’heure Espagnol, Poppea/L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Contessa/Le Nozze di Figaro.
Pumeza Matshikiza has participated in master classes with artists such as Philip Langridge, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen, Renata Scotto, Joan Rogers, Paul Farrington and Ileana Cotrubas.
Pumeza Matshikiza made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as a Flowermaiden in Parsifal. Other roles with the Royal Opera House have included Slave/Salome, Innocent/The Minotaur, Tebaldo/Don Carlos, Witch/Dido & Aeneas and Sandman/Hansel and Gretel. Her cover roles there have included Conçeption/L’heure Espagnol, Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Adina/L’elisir d’amore and Antonia/Les Contes d’Hoffman. Last season, Pumeza appeared in the title-role of the production of Zaide for the Classical Opera Company at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and on tour, in Elijah with the Nottingham Harmonic Society, and in recitals at the Wigmore Hall and in the Middle Temple Series “Julius Drake and Friends”. Her most recent engagements include a debut performance at the Wexford Festival in the new production of Smetana’s The Kiss as Vendulka, a recital at Graignamanagh in Ireland, and recitals with Julius Drake in Leicester, at the London Jewish Cultural Centre and at the Queille Festival, France, where she will also give a concert with the Badke String Quartet.
In the 2011/2012 season Pumeza Matshikiza will join the ensemble at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart where her roles will include Annchen in Der Freischutz, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.
2011/12
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Reviews
"Pumeza Matshikiza's Mimi was as rapt an interpretation as one could expect to hear today.That distinctively warm and rich timbre was a joy to hear, as it cosseted Mimi’s soaring climaxes with a distinctively old world charm. (With) a voice than could interpret Puccini’s Mimi in such a way that she ought to be performing it at many of the world’s leading opera houses."
Antony Lias, Opera Britannia
"The undoubted star of the show, however, is Pumeza Matshikiza's searingly sung Vendulka. The young South African soprano - and former Young Artist at Covent Garden.....pours out her heart and soul in her strikingly smoky lyric soprano, whose gleaming top is like the sun emerging from the clouds. There's a star in the making here. "
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times
"The South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza sings gorgeously as the principled Vendulka. "
Neil Fisher, The Times
"South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza adds further to her rising reputation with her beautifully sung and acted Vendulka. "
George Hall, The Stage
"Vendulka, the girl whose refusal to accept a kiss from the man she loves fuels the plot, is sung by South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza, an open-hearted singer full of promise.....who deservedly won the audience's heart. "
Andrew Clark, Financial Times
"The other major discovery was South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza. Not only was she a winning Vendulka in Smetana's Hubička, she also gave an excellent recital at St. Iberius Church. From the moment she began singing Fauré's "Après un rêve" through her rendition of Grieg's "Ein Traum," the audience gave her its full attention. She has timbre that's hers alone... she's remarkably poised and quietly present, with the gift of inviting you into her private world - the mark of a natural recitalist. "
Brian Kellow, Opera News