Decca Classics Signs Soprano Pumeza Matshikiza To Global Contract

(Photo: Martin Sigmund)

"Pumeza Matshikiza, 34, has signed with Decca to release an album that will feature arias by Mozart and Puccini alongside a musical setting of Invictus, the Victorian poem that inspired Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment on Robben Island. Ms Matshikiza, who currently performs with the Stuttgart Opera, grew up in rented shacks of corrugated iron as her family moved between townships around Cape Town. Her mother sang in church choirs but she discovered her vocation when she stumbled across a classical music radio station. She studied singing at the University of Cape Town and secured a part in an opera, whose composer was so impressed by her voice that he paid for her to fly to London and audition at the Royal College of Music. Ms. Matshikiza said: 'My debut album tells the story of my incredible journey from Africa to Europe and I feel privileged to be able to chart it through the very personal repertoire choices on this album; songs and arias that prove music unites people across the world and brings cultures together.' The album will include traditional African songs in her mother tongue, Xhosa, alongside arias and a new arrangement of the South African hit 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.'" [Source] Videos, and a photo of where the soprano grew up, can be found after the jump.

(Photo: Sarah Nankin)

 "She was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme from 2007 to 2009. As a Jette Parker Young Artist, Pumeza performed in Main Stage productions including Wagner’s Parsifal, Richard Strauss’s Salome, Birtwistle’s The Minotaur and Verdi’s Don Carlo. She went on to sign a three year contract with Oper Stuttgart in 2011, where her roles include Ännchen in Der Freischütz, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni." [Source]