Pumeza Matshikiza Soprano

Lyric soprano Pumeza Matshikiza was born in South Africa and was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House for the 2007/8 and 2008/9 seasons. 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. In January 2010, she won first prize in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition.

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, Covent Garden debut as a Flowermaiden in Parsifal. Other roles with the Royal Opera 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.

Engagements in the 2009/10 season include Tebaldo in the revival of Don Carlos and the cover of Conçeption/L’Heure Espagnole with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the title-role in a new production of Zaide for Classical Opera at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and on tour, Elijah with the Nottingham Harmonic Society, and recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the Crush Room at the Royal Opera House.

2009/10