The Rossini Opera Festival opens this week and while Juan Diego Florez, Pretty Yende, and Lisette Oropesa are sure to make a splash, there is one tenor that is likely to make headlines – Levy Sekgapane.

After winning the Operalia Competition in 2017, the tenor’s status has grown rapidly, performing leading roles in Munich, Barcelona, Riga, and Paris alongside some of the greatest singers such as Pretty Yende and Olga Peretyatko, among others. Now he returns to Pesaro after much acclaim for a rarely performed work.

The tenor, who hails from South Africa will make his festival debut and role debut as Selimo in Rossini’s little-performed comedy “Adina.” The opera, which is being performed for the third time in the festival’s history, will give Sekgapane yet another Rossini role to his growing repertoire, allowing him to show his comic timing. More importantly, the tenor is likely to cement his status as one of the foremost Rossini tenors of his generation. Of his winning Operalia performance, OperaWire noted, “He possesses a beautifully delicate and tender sound.”

And if you won’t be in Pesaro to marvel at his growing status and his vocal fireworks, Sekgapane will display his talents this fall at the Donizetti Festival, Ópera Nacional de Chile, and Hamburg State Opera.

Recordings 

For those not familiar with the tenor’s voice, here is his performance of Ernesto’s aria from “Don Pasquale” which launched his international career.

And here is a performance of the tenor singing from “L’Italiana in Algeri.”