Pumeza Matshikiza (© Simon Fowler / Decca)
Sergio A. Mims writes:
I came across this piece about the debut album on
Decca Classics by Pumeza Matshikiza which was in German but below in the
English translation:
Voice of Hope - The debut album from Pumeza Matshikiza
Pumeza Matshikizas story sounds a bit like a modern fairy tale. Growing up in the slums of Cape Town she is today celebrating successes in European opera houses. Her debut album, aptly titled "Voice of
Hope".
The soprano Pumeza Matshikiza grew up in the slums around Cape Town. Violence and racial hatred were ubiquitous in her childhood. The images of tear gas inserts and ill-treatment in anti-apartheid demonstrations have been deeply etched in her memory. "As
children, we have seen things that we should not have seen. It
was horrible, but that was the time in which we lived."
As a teenager she discovered classical music - a world of great beauty, which contributes unprecedented joy and hope. "I heard this music randomly on the radio, even before we used it in
the choir came in contact, and long before I decided to study music," she says. .
"Opera fascinated me particularly what I heard, had an incredible
impact on me. Suppleness of the voice, the orchestra - everything was
just beautiful and so I fell in love"
Call of the heart
Had it been up to her math teacher, she would have done a university degree in surveying technology. But she followed the call of her heart. "I
lived on the upper campus of the University; lay at the bottom of the
South African College of Music, I went down there and heard the people
played the piano and sang, and thought, oh, I would also be very happy."
For a year quarrels with them to their fate. "In the end, I enrolled at
the College of Music."
In her studiess, she met the composer Kevin Volans. Impressed
by her voice, he invited her to go in 2002 as part of the ensemble of
his opera production of "The Confessions of Zeno" on a European tour.After her successful graduation, he obtained for her a plane ticket to London. She passed the entrance examination at the Royal College of Music and
maintained a full-time scholarship for three years. In 2007 she received her degree, a Masters in Performance. Since 2011 she has been a member of the Stuttgart Opera.
...
"This music has never previously sung in an operatic manner with an orchestra," she says. "That's
why I wanted to maintain the right balance, not to sound too operatic
and at the same time not suppress the African qualities of the music." Matshikiza
sings in the local languages Xhosa, Swahili and Setswana and partly
together with a South African children's choir.
Sergio
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