BY MADELINE ROYCROFT
Pumeza Matshikiza didn’t have the luxury of an early music education. Her childhood spent in South Africa’s Eastern Cape during the final years of the apartheid, the lyric soprano has worked her way up to be one of the brightly shining stars of the operatic stage. She visits Australia this month to perform in Sydney in light of her latest album release Arias.
Since taking part in the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Pumeza earned her stripes as an emerging talent of the opera world. In 2011, she joined the ensemble at the Staatsopera Stuttgart, where she has performed major roles in Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Der Freischütz and Don Giovanni. One billion people tuned in as Pumeza sung at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony in Scotland, and she has given solo concerts throughout the last year in Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Krakow.
Pumeza also records for the label Decca Classics, releasing her first album Voice of Hope in 2014. Her latest release Arias delves deeper into operatic roles, featuring much-loved arias by Purcell, Puccini and Mozart, plus fresh arrangements of art song by Fauré, Hahn and Tosti.
Pumeza visits Australia from 22-26 August to perform at the annual Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Fundraising dinner in Sydney. Read on to learn more about Pumeza and her experience on the world stage.
Hi Pumeza, thanks for taking the time to tell us about your music. How are you feeling about your newest release?
I’m excited about it and proud of it; happy that it has touched so many people. As a singer, your instrument is in your body and you lay yourself bare with your voice in a way which feels different to other instruments. It’s hard to be objective and listen to yourself but I’m pleased that it reflects where I am in my career, the roles I’m singing and the different sides of my musical personality: from the pathos of Dido’s Lament to the fun in La Paloma.
So tell us about the journey that got you here. Your earliest years were spent in a South African township during the final years of the apartheid. What effect did this have on your childhood?
As a child, you have only one perspective: the environment you are born into. Things which I later understood to be unjust and unequal appeared normal to me at that time. It was only when I went with my grandmother to white households where she was a domestic worker that I could see there were other ways of living and that as black people we had a different reality.
What was the hardest thing about your initial move from Cape Town to London?
The cold weather! It was such a shock coming from South Africa where even the winters are relatively mild. Also, everyone seemed in such a rush and at first I found it quite an unfriendly environment. But I soon made friends: first at the Royal College of Music where I studied on a full scholarship and then on the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House. Now, London is one of my favourite cities and a home from home.
You’ve shared previously that your first taste of opera was through channel-surfing radio stations as a teenager. Whose voice was it that had you spellbound, and what would you say to them if you met them today?
It was the Swiss soprano Edith Mathis and she was singing Susanna in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. At the time, I couldn’t have told you what it was. I had grown up singing choral music in church but we were not really taught musical notation or the history of music in school. I didn’t know it was opera, but the beauty of her voice and the smooth sound of the orchestra opened a new world to me. I would love to meet her, thank her and sing for her.
One of the very special things about your first record is the mixture of classical arias and traditional South African songs. Before a performance, do you prepare in the same way regardless of genre? Are there any differences you notice within yourself when you’re singing in other styles?
When we planned the first album, we wanted to give something new to people, music which reflected who I am as a singer and as a South African. But these are very different styles and make different demands on the voice. Most of the African songs are in my mother tongue, Xhosa, which has clicking sounds for some consonants. It would be dangerous to sing opera arias after this so I always keep these songs as encores. Also the mood is quite different: they only feel right at the end of a recital or concert.
Based on your experience studying at the University of Cape Town College of Music, what are your thoughts on the idea that an early start in music education is necessary to achieve success further down the track?
I believe education in all its forms should be as wide and deep as possible from a young age. It should be a right for every child, regardless of background, because then you can make informed choices about your life. I wasn’t so lucky. We had little or no music education and then I was advised to keep clear of opera and study a profession like quantity surveying. So I came to it the long way round and had much catching up to do.
You’ve described yourself as ‘a shy person who sings in front of people for a living’. Do you feel that introverts and extroverts have different experiences working in the professional opera world?
Opera is theatre and as an opera singer I am also an actor, so when I assume a role like Mimi or Susanna I become that person in spite of how I seem away from the stage. We are all characters in a drama and, although you bring your own experiences and ideas to a role, you must have complete identification with that character. I think that allows us to escape being introvert or extrovert. It is something beyond that.
What advice would you give aspiring opera singers growing up outside of major cities?
If you have a passion for it then you should follow your instincts and find people in whom you can trust. You have to invest a lot of time and make great sacrifices but above all you have to invest yourself into being an opera singer with your whole body and soul. The truth comes out in your voice. There’s nowhere to hide.
Learn more about Pumeza’s album Arias, available now.
Image supplied. Decca Classics/©Simon Fowler.
